Smoking used to be part of the staple diet of casino players and staff alike as much as the gambling itself.
Now there are so few casino establishments that have smoking permitted it has become as popular as smoking on an airplane.
Madrid's regional president has warned that Spain could lose the controversial Eurovegas complex of casinos and hotels set to be built on the outskirts of the capital if the government does not change its anti-smoking laws.
Eurovegas is set to bring millions of Euros worth of investment and potentially tens of thousands of jobs to a region hit hard by a recession that has seen unemployment rise to 26% across Spain. But questions have been raised about the financing of the project and the legal framework on which the deal has been built.
Ignacio González said: "We are running the serious risk that Eurovegas will end up elsewhere. If we're not smart, we could lose it."
Eurovegas is the brainchild of the US casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, 79, who wants the Spanish government to adapt the law to allow smoking in his casinos, currently banned under Spanish law.
A spokesperson for the ministry of health said on Wednesday: "The Madrid regional government wants an exception to the law [to allow people to smoke] but our concern is the health of our citizens. At the moment, there is no plan to change the law. But we are always open to dialogue."
The law preventing smoking inside public places was brought in by the previous socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2011. Sheldon has warned that he will delay the project if he does not get his way.
González on Wednesday said the central government needed to solve the problem as soon as possible, describing the project as being good "not just for this region, but for the whole of Spain".
Eurovegas has caused controversy from the moment it was first announced in 2012, with anti-gambling campaigners, Catholic bishops and anti-capitalists saying it will not bring in the financial benefits claimed by Sheldon's company Las Vegas Sands.
The vast complex of casinos, hotels and conference centres is planned for Alcorcón, a dormitory town on the outskirts of the Spanish capital.
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