After years of waffling, the Atlantic City Council has voted unanimously to ban smoking on the floors of the city's gambling casinos, and Mayor Scott Evans endorsed the proposal, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported April 9.

Smoking would be allowed in special indoor smoking lounges. Still, Todd Salerno of the American Cancer Society for Atlantic County called the 9-0 vote "a major turning point."

"This is one more step forward in protecting the health of the entire workforce of New Jersey," he said.

Under a compromise reached with casino operators, implementation of the legislation would be delayed until Oct. 15 to give casinos time to construct the smoking lounges.

Legislation that went into effect last year had permitted smoking on 25 percent of casino floors. Casinos had fought a complete smoking ban, fearing lost gambling revenues, but that stance pitted them against health and workers' groups.