NEW ORLEANS — Smoking inside the city’s more than 500 bars and gambling venues — including the major downtown Harrah’s New Orleans Casino — became off-limits and smokers across the city’s bars lit up their last cigarettes with much fanfare before the ban became official Wednesday, April 22.

City councilwoman Susan Guidry, one of the bans supporters, warned that the tobacco industry and casino lobby was continuing to fight the ban by seeking exemptions from lawmakers in Baton Rouge.