Pennsylvania lawmaker seeks to close casino smoking loophole

Indoor smoking is prohibited in the Keystone State, except in casinos, which have been benefiting from a debatable loophole that allows them to let customers light up on the premises of gaming floors. The belief is that customers are more likely to play at a casino which allows them to smoke on gaming floors, although there is thin economic evidence to back this claim up.

Now, Allegheny County Democratic Rep. Dan Frankel is pushing forward for a change with the Protecting Workers from Secondhand Smoke Act (House Bill 1657), which he hopes to see through and ensure that the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2008 also applies to land-based casinos across Pennsylvania.

Frankle is confident in the successful passage of the bill in the new legislative session as he believes there is sufficient momentum to see the matter through at a time when health is a particularly sensitive issue.

The argument that a person should not have chosen to work in the casino if they didn’t want to inhale secondhand smoke is now met with criticism, and compassion for the plight of the people who make a living in hazardous conditions without an actual need to.

Economically, there has been no irrefutable argument to suggest as of right now that casinos that allow smokers in do any better. In fact, no significant change could be attributed to the measure – neither in the decline nor in the uptake of casino guests.

C3 Gaming, an analytics company, said in a study that companies that had prohibited smoking during the pandemic did not experience revenue declines that were directly attributable to the lack of smokers on casino floors.

Pennsylvania was a champion of smoke-free casinos during the pandemic, as smoke was seen as a carrier of COVID-19, but as mask mandates fell, so did no-smoking prohibitions. To see the matter passed through successfully, however, Rep. Frankle, would have to convince the House Health Committee which will reunite today that the matter is worth pursuing.

For his part, Rep. Frankle has been adamant in his determination to make it so that smoke is gone from casino floors. He pursued a similar attempt last March and was backed by others, including Sen. Jay Costa.

The matter still remains divisive, but the no-smoking movement and casino workers are gaining political traction and backing with every passing day. Of course, this is not the first time we have heard of such moves, as the Keystone State has been trying for more than a year now to have smoking completely removed and close the loophole in the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2008.

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