SPRINGFIELD - After a three-year absence, smoking could return to Illinois casinos.
On a 62-52 vote Tuesday, the Illinois House endorsed a plan to exempt the state's 10 licensed casinos from the state's indoor smoking ban.
Casino owners have been attempting to chip away at the ban since it went into effect in 2008,
Opponents say the national economic downturn and higher taxes on Illinois casinos are the main culprits when it comes to lost revenue.
"Las Vegas is really down on their gambling revenue, too, and they allow smoking. It's clear it's the economy and not the smoke-free act," said Kathy Drea, public policy director of the Illinois Lung Association.
But supporters said the ban forces smokers to choose whether they want to go to gamble in Iowa, Missouri or Indiana, where gamblers have easy access to those casinos and can smoke while they wager their money.
"We wouldn't do that to any other business," said Rep. Lou Lang, D-Chicago.
Rep. Dan Burke, who sponsored the legislation, said the casinos could set aside space for nonsmokers.
"They are at a competitive disadvantage," said Burke, D-Chicago.
The measure faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, where Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, sponsored the original smoking ban. The legislation is House Bill 1965.
Bill Renk, vice president for sales and marketing at Jumer's Casino & Hotel in Rock Island, said it is a wait-and-see issue because the Senate still has to pass the measure and Gov. Pat Quinn would have to sign it.
"We're in that situation with the casino being sold that we would not make any decision and defer to the new ownership," he said. It will be up to the new ownership to make policy changes if the smoke exemption becomes law, he added.
Delaware North Companies, headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y., is buying Jumer's.
In Iowa, lawmakers in both the House and the Senate introduced bills this year that would have banned smoking in the state's casinos, which now are exempt from the state's indoor smoking ban.
Neither bill made it out of committee.
"I think it's realistic to say that lifting the ban could come up again as an amendment this year," said Sen. Shawn Hamerlinck, R-Dixon. He believes that as long as bars in Iowa have the smoking ban in place, then "casinos should, too."
His take on it is similar to the view of Rep. Phyllis Thede, D-Bettendorf. "I think you should either let everyone have it, or no one have it," she said.
Hamerlinck and Thede said their views aren't likely to change, no matter what happens with smoking in Illinois casinos.
Sen. Roby Smith, R-Davenport, said last week he does not favor the exemption for casinos.
(Times reporters Thomas Geyer and Mike Wiser contributed to this report.)
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