Kansas City, Kan. ? Any indoor smoking ban enacted in Kansas City, Kan., likely will include an exemption for the casino floor at the planned Hard Rock Hotel and Casino at Kansas Speedway, a Unified Government spokesman said Friday.

The Board of Commissioners for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., discussed the proposed smoking ban Thursday night but took no action. It didn’t say when it might revisit the issue.

At the meeting was Speedway President Jeff Boerger, who indicated a smoking ban in the casino could cause a reconsideration of going forward with the project, expected to generate some $19 million a year for the Unified Government after it opens in 2011.

Asked Friday whether his comments to the commission meant a smoking ban for the casino would mean the casino wouldn’t be built, Boerger said, “I did mention it puts us at a disadvantage, and we have to go back to the drawing board. It changes the revenues.”

But he added, “We are committed to a world-class facility and we are going to make it happen.”

Boerger said studies show that when casinos ban smoking, there is a 15 percent to 20 percent drop in revenue that isn’t recovered. He said nearby riverboat casinos operating in Kansas City, Mo., allow smoking, as does a tribal casino in downtown Kansas City, Kan.

“We can’t afford to be put at a disadvantage by being put in a position of competing with states without a smoking ban,” he said. “We believe working with the Unified Government we will come up with a good solution.”

Unified Government spokesman Mike Taylor said the proposed ban is a work in progress and any final version will take the casino into account.

“I am extremely confident they will exempt the casino floor, but the final decision is up to the commission,” Taylor said. “After working 15 years to get a casino, the commission is going to be very careful about doing something that will cripple it out of the chute.”

Taylor said a smoking ban could extend to the casino hotel and its bars and restaurants because exempting them would create an unfair advantage to competing businesses that would be covered by a ban.

“Almost everyone from a health perspective realizes that banning it in as many places as possible is good healthwise, but there are business and economic concerns that have to be balanced against the health concerns,” Taylor said.

The Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board awarded a 15-year management contract to a partnership that includes the Speedway and Baltimore-based Cordish Co., subject to final approval by the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission. The Kansas Lottery owns the gambling and the partnership handles the day-to-day operations.

Plans call for a $680 million complex with 3,000 slot machines, a 300-room hotel and convention center, restaurants, bars and retail outlets. It would overlook the No. 2 turn of the 1 1/2 mile D-shaped track.

It’s expected to employ some 2,500 people and have an annual economic effect on the area of some $350 million.

The Speedway plans to add a second NASCAR Sprint Cup race, expected to generate $111 million. It also says it will build a road course in its infield and have a Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car race there by 2011 and bring in thousands of recreational vehicle users each year for a rally generating millions in revenue.