House Bill 2622 aims to amend the state’s Indoor Clean Air Act, a law that went into effect in the middle of 2010. The rule bans smoking in public areas that are not enclosed and within 10 feet of doors to public buildings and all public indoor places—except for casinos.
A group called Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE), comprised of workers from the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Raceway, Kansas Star Casino & Resort, Boot Hill Casino, and Kansas Crossing Casino, helped lobby against the exception to the Indoor Clean Air Act. The group started in New Jersey in 2021 to fight against smoking inside Atlantic City Casinos after a temporary order was nixed by Gov. Phil Murphy following the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For too long, casino workers like myself have had to endure the hazardous conditions of secondhand smoke, all in the name of a paycheck,” said Joe Hafley, security for the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway and founder of CEASE Kansas. “It’s not just about the cards, slots and profits; this bill is a beacon of hope for the hardworking people in our industry, signaling that our health and well-being matter. We should not have to choose between our health and a paycheck.”
House Bill 2058, a bill that intended to ban smoking in casinos, was introduced during the 2023 legislative session. Although it also received support from non-smoking lobbyists, it failed to garner the necessary support to be passed into law.
Casino officials argued last year that outlawing smoking could lead to a decline in revenues for them and the state through declining taxi payments. However, a report from B2B company C3 Gaming noted that casinos in states that do not allow indoor smoking don’t suffer massive revenue declines and perform better than those that do allow smoking in the long term.
