Penn National is joining thousands of hospitals and other employers who ban the hiring of smokers to hold down health care costs and promote a healthy workforce. Patel says the policy is a "big" change in an industry that counts many smokers among its customer base, but he also says that the Ohio casinos will be the only two of Penn's 21 properties that ban tobacco use among employees.

Rock Gaming won't prohibit any of the 3,300 workers it will hire for casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati from using tobacco, but it will provide employees and dependents with cash incentives to quit, said spokeswoman Jennifer Kulczycki.

Rock Gaming isn't worried that gamblers will shun Ohio casinos because of the state ban on smoking and thinks "there are a lot of things that will be attractive to smokers and non-smokers," Kulczycki said.

The nearby states of Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia do not have statewide smoking bans, and Michigan and Pennsylvania's bans exempt casinos.

Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, says that bans on hiring smokers are misguided and that 29 states have passed laws making it illegal to refuse to hire smokers.

"To not hire smokers, you would have to turn down the most qualified applicant one out of every five times," said Maltby.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 19.3 percent of American adults smoke cigarettes, while 22.5 percent of Ohioans do so. The agency also says smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in America and attributes one in five deaths to tobacco use.

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Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com