After talk of extending Indiana's smoking ban to casinos, bars and private clubs quickly fizzled during the 2015 legislative session, an interim study committee is now taking up the debate.
Some legislators and lobbyists, such as the group Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, are worried about the health problems for employees — card dealers in casinos or bartenders at private clubs — who have to work in a smoke-filled environment such. Those workers don't have the option to go somewhere to get away from the smoke.
However, what the Interim Study Committee on Public Policy has heard so far is that banning smoking in casinos specifically could have disastrous results on the Indiana's casino industry.
Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, is chairman of the interim committee. He said the ability to smoke inside Indiana casinos is actually a draw. Smoking is banned in casinos in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. Alting said casino industry representatives testified this week that banning smoking would eliminate one of the few competitive advantages Indiana has over other states in the gaming industry.
"We've spent the last three years revamping the casinos," Alting said, referring to the law passed last session that allows riverboats to moved to land-based facilities. "It wouldn't make much sense to take this away."
Alting said most of the lawmakers he has talked to feel the same way.
"I think the majority is thinking 'let's leave it alone,"' Alting said.
Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said she doesn't think a bill extending Indiana's smoking ban would gain any traction in the Senate. The only chance for a change might come if and when Tropicana decides to build on land.
A recent change in the law now allows riverboat casinos to build land-based facilities within their existing footprint. No casinos have pulled the trigger yet on building on dry land, but Becker thinks they will start soon. Tropicana, for instance, has already begun planning.
When the revamps begin, Becker said she expects some smoke-free rooms or some other changes.
"I think with the different construction and more modern ventilation, they will be able to handle the smoking a little better if they do allow it," Becker said.
Alting said there is no reason to think casinos would go smoke-free if they built on land.
"They will not consider that," Alting said.
He referenced the casino in French Lick, which has a smoke-free room with poker and blackjack tables. He said that room is the least-used room in the whole casino.
But Dyan Duncan, public relations manager at French Lick Resort, disputed Alting's claim.
"I don't think that's fair," she said. "We do have the largest non-smoking room of all the (Indiana) casinos, and it's well-used."
Although the state didn't extend a total smoking ban in public areas back in 2012, local municipalities still have the ability to do so. Evansville enacted a city-wide ban on smoking that was overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court in 2014 because the ban still allowed smoking inside Tropicana Casino. However, most restaurants, bars and clubs have become smoke-free.
"I think we're starting to see a shift in how people feel about smoking," Becker said.
Even still, about one in every five Hoosiers smoke, according to America's Health Rankings.
Lawmakers did limit access of electronic cigarettes this past session and at the beginning of October it became illegal to smoke in the car with minors riding along.
The number of places you can smoke in public has dwindled, but state lawmakers have not touched places such as casinos or bars where people have to be at least 21 years old to enter.
And according to Alting, it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon.