ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A former Atlantic City casino employee has settled his second hand smoke lawsuit for $4.5 million.

Vince Rennich had sued Tropicana Casino and Resort, saying his lung cancer was caused by 25 years of exposure to secondhand smoke inside the casino.

His suit became a rallying cry for the ultimately unsuccessful effort to ban smoking in the nation’s second-largest gambling market.

Rennich now works at Dover Downs, a smoke-free casino in Delaware. He says the atmosphere there is much better than Atlantic City, where smoking is allowed on 25 percent of the casino floor.

The Tropicana had no immediate comment.