Push to Ban Pennsylvania Casino Smoking Relit in Harrisburg, Legislation Forthcoming

Posted on: March 11, 2025, 12:46h. 

Last updated on: March 11, 2025, 12:56h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

• Casino smoking remains legal in Pennsylvania
• Only two casinos don’t take advantage of the smoking allowance
• The fully nonsmoking casinos are Parx and Parx Shippensburg

Pennsylvania is one of 16 states where indoor tobacco use on commercial gaming floors remains.

State Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny) wants to filter out dangerous secondhand smoke from the state’s casinos. Frankel has been fighting for clean indoor air environments for casino workers for several years to no avail.

The chair of the Pennsylvania House Health Committee, the longtime lawmaker who represents Pittsburgh’s east side believes smoke-free casinos are not only good for gamblers and workers, but also for the gaming businesses.

Parx’s 2024 GGR easily bested Wind Creek Bethlehem in second at $535 million. However, Parx’s year-over-year casino win declined more than 3% from 2023, while Wind Creek’s revenue climbed almost 2%.

Casino Smoking Legislation

During Pennsylvania’s 2024 legislative session, Frankel’s bill to amend the state’s 2008 Clean Indoor Air Act to close the indoor smoking loophole afforded to casinos stalled after clearing his House Health Committee. Frankel hopes 2025 will be different when he reintroduces the Protecting Workers From Secondhand Smoke Act.

“Pennsylvanians should not have to choose between their jobs and their health. That’s why I will be introducing legislation to close loopholes that threaten the health of Pennsylvania workers,” Frankel wrote in a memo to his General Assembly colleagues.

My legislation would eliminate loopholes that leave Pennsylvanian workers exposed to toxic smoke, expand the definition of smoking to include e-cigarettes, and give localities the ability to enact smoke-free ordinances that are more protective than state law,” the Allegheny County lawmaker continued.

Frankel says there’s a growing body of evidence to support the claim that smoke-free gaming is good for casinos. He cited Parx Chief Marketing Officer Marc Oppenheimer saying that the casino’s decision to ban all tobacco smoking has resulted in lower healthcare costs, improved morale, and attracted new customers.

Frankel said the thinking that smoking bans create economic harm “is severely outdated” and “unsupported by contemporary evidence.”

Pennsylvania’s 2025 legislative session runs through the end of the year.

Powerful Casino Lobby

Protecting workers is seemingly a bipartisan issue, but the influential gaming lobby in Harrisburg has for years managed to fend off efforts like Frankel’s to force their properties to extinguish indoor tobacco smoke. Casino execs say Parx has led in terms of in-person play simply because it’s an outlier, and gamblers who strongly oppose smoke patronize the property in the densely populated, highly competitive Philadelphia market.

Pennsylvania’s Clean Indoor Air Act permits casinos to designate up to half of their gaming space for indoor cigarette and cigar smoking.