Fuming that a new ban on smoking in indoor public places in New Jersey excludes the state’s casinos, a coalition of bars, restaurants and bowling alley operators filed a federal lawsuit last Tuesday to strike it down as unconstitutional. “What’s happening here is that the state of New Jersey is giving an unfair advantage to the Atlantic City casinos,” said Armando Frallicciardi Jr., proprietor of Lorenzo’s Restaurant, a New Jersey landmark known for its cigar-friendly atmosphere, and one of the plaintiffs. “They already have the monopoly on gambling, and on giving drinks away at less than cost. Now they’re going to give them another monopoly, letting them be the only place in the state you can smoke indoors?” Frallicciardi said. The New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act, who goes into effect April 15, bans smoking in restaurants, bars, private office buildings and other indoor places but permits it on the casino floors of Atlantic City’s 12 gambling halls. Some sponsors and supporters said the exemption was needed to keep the casinos competitive with those in other states where smoking is allowed. Casinos lobbied for the exemption, saying a universal smoking ban would drive business away, lead to job losses and, in the process, cut into the state’s share of casino revenues. Casino employees, on the other hand, were furious, saying it turned them into second-class citizens by protecting the health of other workers but not their own. Assemblyman James Whelan, a former Atlantic City mayor, has filed legislation that would extend the ban to casinos, saying it’s unfair to treat casino employees differently. New Jersey was the 11th state to impose such a ban, but the first to explicitly exempt casinos. Cigar bars and tobacco retailers are also exempt. Restaurants or other establishments that violate the ban could face fines of between $250 and $1,000. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Trenton by the New Jersey Hospitality Industry for Fairness Coalition, the New Jersey Licensed Beverage Association, the New Jersey Restaurant Association, bowling alley owners and several bars and restaurants, all of which say the smoking ban will cost them business. But Robert Gluck, a lawyer for the groups, said it was the exemption of casinos that drove them to sue. “We’d be satisfied if it were across the board to everyone in the hospitality industry,” he said. “The casino exemption is the nub of the case. For the life of us, we can’t figure out why the casinos are exempted, except politics.” State Sen. John H. Adler, a sponsor of the law, said the exemption for casinos was needed to get some measure enacted after a decade of effort. “It’s pathetic that these restaurant and bar owners have the gall to try and keep poisoning the bodies of their workers and customers,” said Adler, a Camden County Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said he favors legislation that would remove the casino exemption. A constitutional law expert said a judge could either strike the law down as unconstitutional or eliminate the casino exemption. “My sense is that since this is such an obvious and admitted political compromise, I would think a court if it were going to strike it down would send the whole thing back to the Legislature, as opposed to extending it to casinos,” said Robert Williams, a professor at the Rutgers-Camden School of Law. “It’s clear the Legislature didn’t want to do that.”