Tobacco Facts.

Gov. Mike Rounds says the need to protect people from secondhand smoke played a role in his decision to sign a measure that bans smoking in South Dakota’s bars, video lottery casinos and Deadwood gambling halls.

“I think in this case, the health concerns top the other concerns that were expressed,” the governor said Thursday.

The new law, which takes effect July 1, extends a ban that has outlawed smoking in most public places since 2002. Beginning July 1, smoking will be allowed only in motel rooms and a limited number of cigar bars and smoke shops.

During legislative debate, supporters argued that secondhand smoke in bars and casinos hurts customers and employees. Opponents said the ban interferes with business owners’ rights.

State economists have said the ban likely will cut state revenue from gambling. The state gets some revenue from taxes and fees applied to Deadwood gambling halls. The state also has been getting more than $110 million a year as its half of the profits from video gambling establishments that offer poker and other games.

An economist from the governor’s budget office recently said a smoking ban could cut video lottery revenue by 15 percent to 25 percent in the budget year beginning July 1.

Jennifer Stalley of Pierre, an official of the American Cancer Society, praised the governor’s decision to sign the bill.

“I think it’s a big day for South Dakota,” Stalley said. “In the long run I think we’re going to save a lot of lives, a lot of money.”

Similar bans in other states have cut health care costs by reducing emergency room visits for heart problems, Stalley said. The ban also protects workers from the dangers of secondhand smoke in bars and casinos, she said.

“Nobody should have to choose between their health and their job,” Stalley said.

Until now, Deadwood gambling halls, bars, video lottery casinos and restaurants that sell alcohol were exempt from the smoking ban. Representatives of those industries fought the tighter ban all through the legislative session.

The law makes it a petty offense, carrying a fine of $25, for smokers who violate the ban and business owners or managers who fail to warn violators.

Rounds said smoking ban opponents may collect petition signatures to try to refer it to a statewide public vote in the November 2010 election. Such a referral would suspend the law from taking effect until after the public vote.

The governor said the bill written by the Legislature allows smoking in only a few places and can be enforced in a way that works.

The Legislature also recognized that while people have a choice whether they smoke, a larger number of people do not want to be irritated by secondhand smoke. Television ads run by supporters of the ban helped shape public opinion on the issue, he said.

“I think there’s also a conscious decision on the part of the majority of the public that it’s really not right to put employees in a position of losing their jobs if they can’t handle the secondhand smoke,” Rounds said.

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