A bipartisan bill that will ban smoking in New Jersey’s casinos will finally get a full vote in the Senate during the lame duck legislative session, and we know we can speak for every croupier, cashier, cocktail server, custodian, and pit clerk when we issue the following statement: Hallelujah.

There is little point in recapping the 17-year odyssey of the New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act, the law that prohibited smoking in public buildings such as restaurants and bars but left an exception for casinos, a decision that still hovers over workers in Atlantic City like a rancid fog.

So it’s time to finish the job and close the loophole that permits smoking on 25% of the casino floor.