The bills have always been sponsored by Democrats in a legislature controlled by Republicans. Such prohibitions already exist in neighboring Maryland, New York, and Delaware gambling venues.īills have also been introduced in repeated legislative sessions in Harrisburg to rescind Pennsylvania’s exemption, but none has received serious attention. The long-debated smoking issue has garnered more attention than usual of late because of serious consideration being given by New Jersey lawmakers this year to rescinding their own exemption and banning smoking within Atlantic City casinos. The casino’s revised stance leaves voluntary no-smoking policies in effect inside just two Pennsylvania casinos: Parx, long the state’s biggest revenue generator, which has sent smokers outdoors since June 2021 and Rivers Philadelphia, which adopted the policy April 29, although its sister Rush Street Gaming property, Rivers Pittsburgh, allows smokers. Mount Airy officials also declined through a spokeswoman to discuss the change with Penn Bets, although a company marketing representative said in an interview last November that “feedback has been overwhelmingly positive” to the no-smoking policy then in effect. Rules on smoking fall under state law set by the legislature rather than regulations dictated by the gaming board. It’s not clear when or why the policy changed, however, as gaming board staff and commissioners did not delve into the issue during questioning at the hearing. That is the case in nearly all of Pennsylvania’s 16 casinos under an exemption for them carved out in the state’s indoor smoking law, but it was not true at Mount Airy in late 2021 and early 2022.Īt some point this spring, indoor smoking resumed at the property - its website even touts that with a “Smoking is permitted on the casino floor in designated smoking areas” message at the top of its homepage.

Mount Airy Casino Resort stood out months ago as one of few casinos in Pennsylvania to ban indoor smoking, but a state hearing last week for its periodic licensing renewal made clear that’s no longer the case.Ĭasino officials confirmed at the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board public hearing in Monroe County that smoking is again permitted in designated areas on up to half of the gaming floor.

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