Lawmakers gutted a bill Friday that would have banned smoking in casinos, but sponsors are counting on lady luck to restore it next week.

The Senate voted 18-17 to amend the bill to say that if casinos are required to ban smoking then cigar bars and the smoking lounge at Denver International Airport also must ban it.

Those three locations are exempt under Colorado's no- smoking law.

Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, won his bid to alter the bill, arguing that the statewide smoking ban should extend to every workplace and that lawmakers should not be allowed to carve out "winners or losers."

"Perhaps what I've done will provide leverage to move for an across-the-board ban," he said.

But the bill's backers vowed to strip the "poison pill" amendment from House Bill 1269.

The Senate is expected to cast its final vote next week.

Voting for the bill then will be Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, who said he mistakenly voted for the amendment Friday.

Tapia said his intent wasn't to kill the bill and that he plans to reverse his vote. He said he was given bad information by a casino lobbyist who told him the bill was simply being changed to give casinos a year to go smoke-free once it becomes law.

"I support the bill. I don't think people should smoke," Tapia said. "My mind is so full of everything coming at you at (such a) fast pace. I can't keep track of everything."

Bill sponsors Denver Democrats Sen. Ken Gordon and Rep. Anne McGihon had hoped to get at least 20 senators to back the bill.

They contend that casino employees deserve protection from secondhand smoke.

Four Democrats joined Republicans to amend the measure, with Tapia emerging as the deciding vote.