AUGUSTA – Maine’s long-running debate about whether to expand restrictions on smoking now focuses on bingo halls, one of the last public places where people still can light up.

The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee heard arguments Thursday on a proposal to outlaw smoking in all bingo halls that are open to the public.

“We ban smoking in public places almost everywhere else – except these facilities – for public-safety purposes,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Patricia Jacobs, D-Turner.

Noting that most bingo players are elderly, Jacobs said the age group is “at the highest risk for respiratory diseases and weakened immune systems.”

Norman Morin of Jay, a bingo-loving nonsmoker with Parkinson’s disease, spoke in opposition to the bill. Morin can’t drive and relies on his wife, a smoker, to ferry him to and from games. He said if smoking is banned, his wife would boycott the games and he no longer could play.

“I have played bingo for 35 years and I am not dead yet,” said Morin, 68, in response to claims that second-hand smoke poses a serious threat to nonsmokers. “I do not mean to say it is healthy, but it should be my choice.”

Morin said when he played bingo Wednesday night, he counted 160 smokers and 40 nonsmokers at the hall. “If we’re going to say that for 20 percent of the people (who don’t smoke at bingo), 80 percent of the people should stay home, there won’t be many bingo halls,” Morin said.

Bernice Gauthier of Lewiston, a bingo-player for the past 40 years, endorsed a ban and presented lawmakers with a petition signed by more than 300 of her fellow aficionados supporting smoke-free bingo.

“The smoke bothers my friends who have emphysema and asthma, and they can hardly stand to stay in the bingo hall,” if they risk going there at all, Gauthier said. “This is their only entertainment. They cannot afford to go anywhere else, so they go to bingo,” despite the smoke.

Over the years, the Legislature gradually has expanded the state’s public smoking ban to cover more and more locations. In 1999, restaurants were added to the list of places where smoking is prohibited.

About 400 nonprofit organizations across the state are licensed to offer bingo games and those games take in about $35 million a year, according to Maine State Police. Some groups offer bingo several times a week, and attendance ranges anywhere from 20 to 300 people per night, Sgt. Barry Hathaway said.