Jun 17, 2007 By Kori Walter For The 3 min read

Smokers soon may run out of luck at Pennsylvania’s casinos. State Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf, a Montgomery County Republican, said on Friday he would try to block attempts at exempting casinos from a proposed smoking ban in almost all public places.

In addition to banning smoking in restaurants and bars, Greeleaf’s bill would snuff out smoking at Philadelphia Park in Bensalem and The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington County.

The state Senate could vote on the bill as early as next week.

He said non-smoking gamblers with breathing problems and casino workers should not have to tolerate second-hand smoke.

“We are not stopping people from smoking,” Greeleaf said. “We are saying when you impact other people, that is not a good health situation. People have come to the realization that we know smoking is a health issue, and from all these scientific reports we know that second-hand smoke is a serious, serious health problem.”

But Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, a Bucks County Republican, said banning smoking in Pennsylvania casinos would drive gamblers to Atlantic City and West Virginia gaming resorts.

West Virginia has no smoking restrictions. Atlantic City enacted a local ordinance in April limiting smoking to just 25 percent of the gaming areas, according to the New Jersey Gaming Control Commission.

Tomlinson said he wants to change Greeleaf’s bill and allow smoking in 25 percent of the gaming area at Pennsylvania’s casinos.

Under Tomlinson’s propos-al, smoking areas would be separated from other areas of the casino areas by glass enclosures and air-purification system.

“A lot of these people who go to these gaming institutions smoke and want to smoke,” he said. “You don’t have to go there (the casinos). It’s not like a courthouse. You are not summoned there. You chose to go there.”

Delaware has banned smoking since November 2002 in public places, including slots parlors in Dover and outside of Wilmington.

Lisa Butler, a spokeswoman for Dover Downs, said revenues dipped about 10 percent during the first year the smoking ban went into effect.

But revenues rebounded the following year, she said.

Reaction from gamblers was mixed. Butler said some smokers threatened to gamble elswhere, but others welcomed the cleaner environment.

“To us, being smoke-free is not a negative,” she said. “We promote ourselves as smoke-free.”

The Clean Air Council, a Philadelphia-based environmental advocacy group, backs Greenleaf’s call for a total ban on indoor smoking in Pennsylvania.

Tim Kelly, a council spokesman, said restricting smoking to certain areas of a casino would do no good for workers.

“The workers who work in that environment are going to be exposed to even higher concentrations of second-hand smoke,” Kelly said.

David LaTorre, a spokesman for The Meadows Racetrack & Casino, predicted a smoking ban in casinos would reduce revenues.

He said that would hurt Pennsylvania taxpayers, who are counting on slots revenues to fund school property tax cuts.

“The fact of the matter is a venue like The Meadows is in intense competition with casinos in West Virginia that permit smoking,” LaTorre said. “If you ask somebody who smokes and lives in southwestern Pennsylvania where they are going to go spend their time, they are going to be willing to spend that extra 20 to 30 minutes to be able to smoke.”

A spokesman at Philadelphia Park was unavailable for comment.