In New Jersey, advocates sparked up cigarettes in the middle of a Senate Health Committee meeting earlier this month as part of their push to ban smoking in casinos.

Here in Rhode Island, advocates say it might be time for that tactic, as state Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio continues to oppose a ban on casino smoking.

“I think that is what we need to do,” said Vanessa Baker, a table games supervisor at Bally’s Twin River Lincoln Casino and co-leader of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE) Rhode Island. “We need to go into the State House and light up and see how they like it.”