{"id":509,"date":"2011-03-30T12:35:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T18:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theloungeisback.wordpress.com\/?p=509"},"modified":"2014-01-15T20:06:15","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T20:06:15","slug":"illinois-watering-down-its-smoking-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=509","title":{"rendered":"Illinois watering down its smoking ban?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Casino-Smoking\"<\/a>
\nIllinois may be the first state to water down its statewide smoking ban.<\/p>\n

Because some bars and especially casinos have seen a huge dropoff in revenues since Illinois imposed its smoking ban in 2008. Casinos reportedly are down 28 percent. A State Legislative panel concluded that the smoking ban has been the biggest reason (I gotta believe the overall economic downturn is a pretty big damn factor, too.).<\/p>\n

The Illinois State House passed a bill<\/a> yesterday to lift the smoking ban on casinos. Another bill in the Illinois Legislature would weaken the smoking ban in bars<\/a> (It would allow bars to get a smoking exemption licence.), while ironically, Illinois is also considering a bill to raise its cigarette tax another 50 cents a pack (from $.98 a pack to $1.48 a pack — man that would drill Chicago. Chicago has a high city cigarette tax, making it one of the most expensive cities in the country already for cigarettes — about $7 to $8 a pack.)<\/p>\n

If the Senate passes the casino exemption and it’s signed into law, Illinois would become the first state in the country weaken its smoking ban.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Illinois may be the first state to water down its statewide smoking ban. Because some bars and especially casinos have seen a huge dropoff in revenues since Illinois imposed its smoking ban in 2008. Casinos reportedly are down 28 percent. A State Legislative panel concluded that the smoking ban has been the biggest reason (I … Continue reading Illinois watering down its smoking ban?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casinos","category-smoking-bans-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Casino-Smoking.jpg?fit=350%2C263&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-8d","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":527,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=527","url_meta":{"origin":509,"position":0},"title":"Indiana smoking ban appears dead because it had too many exemptions","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"April 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a new one to me. A proposed smoking ban in Indiana died in a State Senate Committee because it contained too many exemptions. The extremely weak ban, which would have exempted bars, casinos and private clubs, would have only applied to restaurants. It passed in the State House\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Smoking bans"","block_context":{"text":"Smoking bans","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=60"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3834,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3834","url_meta":{"origin":509,"position":1},"title":"Alaska Senate passes statewide smoking ban","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"April 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Alaska, in all of its rugged individualism and Libertarian glory, was one of the last places I would expect to pass a statewide smoking ban. But, The Last Frontier state just might do it. The Alaska State Senate passed a bill to ban smoking in all enclosed buildings, including bars\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alaska"","block_context":{"text":"Alaska","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=795"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/alaska-cabin-northern-lights.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/alaska-cabin-northern-lights.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/alaska-cabin-northern-lights.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/alaska-cabin-northern-lights.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/alaska-cabin-northern-lights.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2811,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2811","url_meta":{"origin":509,"position":2},"title":"New Orleans considering a smoking ban","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"January 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The City of New Orleans, famous for its iconic smoky blues and jazz clubs, is considering a full smoking ban which would apply to all bars and casinos. This would be a great accomplishment for the anti-smoking movement. The political will behind smoking bans has withered in the past few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=410"},"img":{"alt_text":"BasinStreetNewOrleans","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/BasinStreetNewOrleans-500x350.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4072,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4072","url_meta":{"origin":509,"position":3},"title":"Baton Rouge joins New Orleans going smokefree","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"August 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't get the chance to post a lot of stories about smoking bans anymore, but lo and behold, another big city in the South has gone smokefree. After seeing the success of New Orleans going smokefree a year ago, Louisiana's second-biggest city, Baton Rouge, followed suit earlier this month,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Baton Rouge"","block_context":{"text":"Baton Rouge","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=867"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Hyatt-Place-Baton-Rouge-I-10-P002-Baton-Rouge-at-Night.masthead-feature-panel-medium.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Hyatt-Place-Baton-Rouge-I-10-P002-Baton-Rouge-at-Night.masthead-feature-panel-medium.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Hyatt-Place-Baton-Rouge-I-10-P002-Baton-Rouge-at-Night.masthead-feature-panel-medium.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Hyatt-Place-Baton-Rouge-I-10-P002-Baton-Rouge-at-Night.masthead-feature-panel-medium.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Hyatt-Place-Baton-Rouge-I-10-P002-Baton-Rouge-at-Night.masthead-feature-panel-medium.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3509,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3509","url_meta":{"origin":509,"position":4},"title":"Asian casino mecca Macau seriously considering smoking ban","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"September 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a bit of a surprise. 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