Tuesday, March 06, 2007

In a vast, dimly lit room with a low ceiling and frosted glass chandeliers -
but without the scent or sight of a smoky haze - video lottery terminals are
arrayed in ranks like soldiers. "I used to go to Atlantic City and I hated
it when people would sit next to me smoking a cigarette," said Rosa
Rodriguez of the Bronx, who stood outside Yonkers Raceway this week smoking
a cigarette during a break from the video slot machines. "I'm a smoker, but
you pick up secondhand smoke and it gets in your clothes." To hear casino
operators and some lawmakers, however, Ms. Rodriquez is the exception and
not the rule. In New Jersey, antismoking advocates are regularly reminded
when it comes to casinos that progress is often measured in inches. And now
in New York, where an agreement with the St. Regis Mohawks has paved the way
for a casino in the Catskills, they are finding that it is a game played in
the fine print. In both states, arguments over the dangers of secondhand
smoke run headlong into the mantra of casino owners that smoking bans will
jeopardize their ability to do business and will send gamblers fleeing to
less restrictive areas or to other forms of gambling. But the owners of
racinos, racetracks with video slot machines, say smoking bans have not cut
into their popularity or their profitability. So far, say officials at
Yonkers Raceway, one of seven such gambling emporiums in New York State, the
smoking ban has proved to be more of an attraction than a deterrent to
business. While racinos, with their slot machines, blur the lines with
casinos, with their table games, there is little question that operations
like the one in Yonkers have brought new revenue to the tracks and to the
state, rescuing harness and thoroughbred racing from extinction.
In New Jersey, the efforts to ban smoking have been as tremulous as a smoke
ring. Last year the Legislature approved a total ban on smoking in
restaurants and bars, but exempted casinos. This year, the City Council in
Atlantic City, under pressure from antismoking advocates and casino
employees, broached the notion of a total smoking ban. After casino
operators warned of economic harm, the Council relented and last month
approved a measure allowing smoking on 25 percent of the gambling floors.
About three weeks later, the State Senate Health Committee unanimously
passed a measure that would do away with the exemption, but obstacles thrown
up by the casino operators are considerable, and prospects for its final
passage are uncertain. Besides the millions in revenue they bring into the
state, casino operators are also large political contributors. In New York,
a coalition of antismoking groups has raised concerns about a new pact with
the St. Regis Mohawks, which on its face would require that their proposed
casino observe the state's ban on smoking in the workplace. But according to
Peter Slocum, a spokesman for the antismoking groups, buried in the 92-page
agreement is wording that would allow only a "portion" of the casino floor
to be smoke-free.

A statement from Gov. Eliot Spitzer's office on the compact with the St.
Regis Mohawks initially said the tribe would observe all state health and
safety laws even though the proposed casino would be on sovereign Indian
land. But Christine Pritchard, a Spitzer spokeswoman, conceded that the
compact's language regarding smoking was inconsistent, and that efforts were
being made to resolve any confusion.

Russell Sciandra, president of the American Cancer Society, one of the
groups favoring a ban, said in a letter to Governor Spitzer, "We believe the
compact's failure to meaningfully address smoking is backsliding and a bad
deal for the health of New Yorkers."

A similar kind of buyer's remorse has descended on some New Jersey
legislators who supported last year's exemption for casinos. State Senator
Joseph Vitale, a co-sponsor of the latest bill calling for a total smoking
ban, said he accepted the exemption because 95 percent of bars and
restaurants would be covered. "But afterward, a number of lawmakers
regretted granting the exemption, based partly on the outcry from unions
representing casino workers," Mr. Vitale said. "I feel confident that we can
get this complete ban out of the Senate."