One Year Later, Casinos Still Fuming Over Illinois Smoking Laws

To go into a casino or a bar in Illinois and speak to the owner or manager, one would get the feeling that the whole recession should be blamed on Illinois' now one year old smoking ban. Casinos are still claiming the law has hurt their business.

While many businesses struggled through the better part of 2008, casinos were still conducting business as usual. The industry has seen their share of a drop off in business, but they are surviving.

That is more than can be said for small business owners who have had to shut their doors in the past year thanks to financial troubles. Those owners have not blamed smoking laws. They just knew the time had come and that business was not getting any better.

2009 has now started and with a year of the smoking law behind them, casino and bar owners are up to their usual tricks of blaming their lack of business on Illinois lawmakers.

"It's terrible. It's the worst thing that could happen to a neighborhood saloon," said Walt Karstens, owner of Casey's Tavern in Moline. Others, however, saw the smoke filled saloons as the trouble to the neighborhood.

"I think it (smoking ban) went exceptionally well. We've heard from so many people that are now working in smoke-free work places and what a difference it's made in their lives," said Kathy Drea, the director of public policy for the American Lung Association, when speaking to the Chicago Tribune.

Year two of the smoking law has begun and the controversy it has sparked is still going strong. Which side is right or wrong is up for debate, but that debate lingers, unlike smoke in Illinois indoor public places.

January 2, 2009
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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