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 It started with bars and restaurants, and now there's talk about banning smoking in casinos.
A new survey shows a majority of Iowans would approve a statewide ban of smoking in non-tribal casinos like Diamond Jo in Worth County, but casino leaders say it would hurt business.
Des Moines pollster Selzer and Company questioned 500 registered Iowa voters earlier this month about smoking in casinos. More than 60 percent of them favored banning the product in the gambling establishments.
Casinos say they'd lose revenue if smoking was outlawed, and that would affect the charitable organizations the casino's support.
"The majority of people in the casinos are non-smokers," said Teresa Symons, Cerro Gordo Public Health.
Symons says the most recent health figures show only about 14 percent of Iowans smoke. She says it makes sense to extend the Iowa Smoke-Free Air Act to casinos.
"I really don't think that the casinos will see a real economic impact from these folks not smoking," said Symons.
Symons says when the law first went into effect bars and restaurants thought their business would suffer, but she says that's not the case.
"Most of our bars and restaurants have actually had the opposite happen people are really appreciative of having a smoke free environment," said Symons.
But casino leaders don't agree.
"We believe that adults can make adult decisions in adult venues," said Carrie Tedore, corporate director of public relations for Peninsula Gaming.
Peninsula Gaming is Diamond Jo's parent company. Tedore says steps are already in place to accommodate non-smokers.
"We have state of the art air handling, non-smoking restaurants and non-smoking banquet facilities plus we have a non-smoking section on our casino floor," said Tedore.
Tedore says gambling establishments in states that have enacted smoking bans have seen revenues drop as much as 30 percent.
"To take a 20-30 percent hit on our gross revenue would be detrimental not only to the casinos but to the number of jobs we produce and the distributions we give back to the state and local communities," said Tedore.
But if the same pattern that happened with Iowa bars and restaurants happens with casinos, Symons thinks they'll survive.
"I think for the most part people prefer the smoke free environments," said Symons.
Neighboring states South Dakota and Illinois do have casino smoking bans already in place. There's a bill currently pending in the Iowa Senate that would end smoking in casinos. That bill must clear committee by the end of the week or the proposal is dead for the year.
Only four percent of those surveyed said they would go to casinos less often if the state sponsored casinos went smoke-free while14 percent said they would go more often.
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