Pennsylvania drags its feet over smoking ban for casinos

Article by : Charles Perrin Apr 18, 2024

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Pennsylvania continues to drag its feet over a bill to completely extinguish smoking from brick-and-mortar casinos.

Although House Bill 1657, which proposed to remove an indoor smoking loophole afforded to casinos and a select number of other businesses, was signed off by the Pennsylvania Health Committee five months ago, little progress has been made since.

Rep. Dan Frankel (D- Allegheny), who authored the statue, has long championed removing tobacco use at casinos and other establishments. Indeed, while concerns have arisen over the impact of what a smoking ban would do for business, Frankel refuted such notions.

After HB 1657 initially cleared a House committee, Frankel said: “It’s preposterous to argue that smoking bans are bad for business when Pennsylvania’s most successful casino is voluntarily smoke-free.

“A growing body of evidence suggests that smoke-free environments attract more customers, not fewer.

“Pennsylvanians should not have to choose between their jobs and their healt. This legislation is not just good for health — it’s also good for business.”

In a telling development, Frankel’s HB 1657 was taken off the agenda for review in the House chamber this week, to allow more time to garner support for the cause.

Lawmakers fear Pennsylvania gamblers may take their custom elsewhere if a smoking ban is enforced and travel an hour east to Atlantic City instead.

Added to that, a smoking ban, it is thought, could lead to redundancies and casino closures down the line.

As things stand, efforts to extinguish smoking from Atlantic City casinos appear to be remote, even though a lawsuit was filed earlier this month to claim down on tobacco use at the nine New Jersey casinos through a court order.

The subject of a smoking ban has roiled casino operators, even though Pennsylvania’s Clean Indoor Act of 2008 allocated up to 25% of gaming space for tobacco use.

But of the 17 casinos in the commonwealth, only two, Parx Casino in Bethlehem and Parx Casino Shippensburg, eschewed the smoking allowance offer.

That said, Parx is the richest casino of the bunch, and the casino just north of Philadelphia, was the top-grossing casino last year, raking in $588.2 million in revenue.

The smoking bill remains a prickly issue in Pennsylvania, but the immediate future looks bleak.