On July 16th, 2008 Omaha City officials are changing parts of the city's budget because of the recent decision of the Nebraska Supreme Court that widens the reach of the city's ban on smoking in public areas. In May 2008, the state Supreme Court decided that the exemption imposed by Omaha officials to keno bars and horse racing tracks from the smoking ban was unconstitutional.
Just last month, the public smoking ban was imposed in those business establishments as well. This was done when one of the proprietors of a business in Omaha filed a case before the Supreme Court complaining about the unfairness of the smoking ban. The business owner said that keno bars and other businesses that are exempted from the smoking ban should be included in the ban because it is unconstitutional.
Omaha finance director Carol Ebdon commented that her office had reviewed on what happened to the city of Lincoln following their enforcement of an all-out smoking ban. She said that Omaha will also lose some cash because of smaller keno revenue due to the total smoking ban.
Ebdon commented that Omaha received around $8.1 million in keno revenue last year. She added that the number is expected to slide down to $7.3 million last year.
[04-08]
John M. Thorpe
