Indiana to Propose Statewide Smoking Ban With Casino Exemption

House legislators will allow smoking in casinos in order to preserve the state's revenue from gambling taxes.

January 17, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana lawmakers will modify a statewide smoking ban proposal to exempt casinos, the Associated Press reports. The move is in response to casinos saying nonsmoking gambling floors would harm business, which would mean a drop in gambling tax revenue for the state.

The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency projected in a fiscal note that Indiana could see a loss of more than $180 million yearly in taxes if smoking were prohibited in casinos. That amount effectively killed any hope for a complete smoking ban, said state Rep. Charlie Brown, who has supported a smoking ban in the past.

Last week, the House Public Health Committee debated the proposal but no vote was taken. Both Brown and Committee Chair Rep. Tim Brown indicated a vote would happen this week to amend the measure with the casino exemption.

"In this budgetary environment we??re talking about ?" with every penny tight and any dollar taken away is a dollar taken away from K-12 education ?" it??s our obligation to maybe minimize the impact," said Tim Brown.

The Indiana House has approved statewide smoking bans before, but those have stalled in the Senate. Senate President Pro Tem David Long said that he would likely give a bill with casino exemptions a hearing this year.

While some bars also want to be exempt from a smoking ban, Charlie Brown said the amendment would only cover casinos, horse racing tracks, off-track betting places and perhaps cigar bars. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has indicated he supports a statewide smoking ban.

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