After years of fits and starts, smoking in Atlantic City casinos is one step closer to the eternal ashtray.

Monday afternoon, members of the New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee voted to move Senate Bill 1493 through to the full Senate. The vote was 6-0, with two abstaining.

Arguments on both sides of the issue were heard, though this hearing was by invitation only.

Nicole Vitola, a dealer at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and founder of CEASE (Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects), and Cynthia Hallett, the president and CEO of Americans For Nonsmokers’ Rights, led off by arguing against smoking inside casinos, while Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey President and CEO Christina Renna and Donna DeCaprio, president of UNITE Here Local 54, spoke on behalf of keeping smoking legal — in some form — in A.C.

Under the current state law established in 2006, New Jersey workplaces are guaranteed to be smoke-free, with casinos being grandfathered in as the sole indoor smoking venues in the state. Currently, 25% of casino floors in the city permit smoking. While smoking was temporarily banned in Atlantic City casinos during the COVID-19 pandemic, the restriction was lifted in late 2021 as the pandemic waned.

New year, new result

During a meeting in December, it seemed like a sure thing the bill was going to soar through the committee.

A bipartisan majority in both the Assembly and Senate co-sponsored the bill, and Governor Phil Murphy expressed his intent to sign it upon reaching his desk. The committee responsible for advancing the bill also had a majority of supportive lawmakers.

But at the meeting, Senator Vince Polistina, a then-committee member representing the Atlantic City area, said there were insufficient votes for the legislation’s passage, and chairman Joe Vitale did not bring the issue to vote.

The next step for the bill is for the Senate’s president, Nicholas Scutari, to post it. If passed by the legislature, the bill would go into immediate effect 90 days after Gov. Murphy signs it.

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