Casino employees want Kansas to ban smoking at their workplace. Will lawmakers act?

Joseph Halfey, a security officer at the Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, Kansas, loves his job but not the health risks that come with it.

Casinos are one of the last places in Kansas where smoking is allowed. The Kansas Indoor Clean Air Act, a 2010 law, banned most indoor smoking but included an exception for casinos.

Hafley, who founded the advocacy organization Casino Workers Against Smoking Effects, said the smoke emitted from cigarette and cigar smoke sticks on his clothes, exposing his family to harmful toxins when he gets home. Each day he worries for his health and often feels sick after inhaling smoke all day, he said.

“I have a wife and a son who I want to be with for a very long time,” Hafley said. “Getting rid of secondhand smoke in casinos would do that.”

Hafley shared his frustrations during a hearing this week of the Kansas House’s Health and Human Services Committee. The committee is considering a bill that would end smoking inside state-owned casinos.

Rep. Ford Carr, a Wichita Democrat who sponsored the bill, said smokers are unable to contain where the smoke goes, and ventilation systems are not adequate in filtering out secondhand smoke. Every Kansan should have the right to breathe free air in a public place, he added.

“It just comes down to whether or not we’re going to allow people to infringe on the rights of others,” he said.

More than 20 states ban smoking inside of casinos – including nearby Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado. Casinos in Missouri and Oklahoma, however, still allow gamblers to smoke while they play.

Opponents of the bill who spoke at the hearing – lobbyists for casinos across the state – said the bill would put state-owned casinos at a competitive disadvantage to others that allow smoking, such as Native American casinos and ones located along the borders of Missouri and Oklahoma.

They said a ban on smoking would produce “serious, adverse” effects, potentially jeopardizing their workforce and forcing them to endure revenue losses as large as 30%.

Supporters of a ban noted a recent report from Las Vegas-based C3 Gaming that found smoke-free casinos did not experience a significant drop in revenue and performed better than casinos that allowed smoking. They said smoke-free are likely to be more successful because they cater to a larger portion of Kansans who do not smoke.

Kevin Fowler, a lobbyist representing the Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel, refuted those claims. Since many state-owned casinos are located near other casinos that allow smoking, it would put them at a competitive disadvantage and they would lose revenue, he said.

“If that were true, we’d be in support of this bill,” he said. “In fact, if that was true this bill would not be even under consideration because every casino in the state would be smoke free. It just doesn’t make logical sense.”

The arguments of ban supporters centers on the adverse medical effects of second and third-hand smoke, or the chemical residue produced by smoking that latches onto dust and surfaces before remitting into the air.

Traci Kennedy, a lobbyist with American for Nonsmokers’ Rights, said the bill would also be beneficial to casinos who strive for responsible gaming by forcing smokers to take a break and go outside to smoke. She refuted claims by proponents that “state-of-the-art” ventilation systems effectively protected workers from toxins emitted from smoking.

“[Secondhand smoke] particles are so small they can be breathed deeply into the lungs and cause severe health effects,” she said. “Before the secondhand smoke ever has a chance to get through a ventilation system, it goes through the lungs of a worker.”

Opponents of the measure also pointed to the large amount of revenue state-owned casinos produce toward local and state governments. But Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican who chairs the House committee, said the revenue state-owned casinos bring into the state does not hold a candle to the damage gambling addiction has done to families.

“I have zero sympathy for your testimony that you provided today,” Landwehr told Fowler.

She added the money toward the gambling fund had not “done squat” to address any damage gambling has done to Kansan families.

Rep. John Eplee, an Atchison Republican and a physician, was undecided on how he would vote, but said the bill had merit. He said he wants to represent both individuals who want to smoke and gamble while protecting others’ health.

“The political reality doesn’t always mesh with the health reality,” he said. “That’s where I’m conflicted.”

He said he would consider an amendment creating smoking and non-smoking zones in casinos, thereby catering to both populations of gamblers.

Kari Rinker, a representative with the American Heart Association, said creating separate zones for smokers and non-smokers would not help alleviate any health risks. The only solution, she said, is to outlaw smoking entirely.

“There is no level of safe second hand smoke,” she said. “It’s akin to saying you’ll have a peeing section of the local public swimming pool.”