DES MOINES (AP) - Critics of the state's ban on indoor smoking say proposals to allow gaming machines in bars only proves that the restriction is cutting into business.

"It's an acknowledgment that they hurt these folks," House Minority Leader Christopher Rants said Tuesday. "They realize how much anger is out there."

Rants, a Republican from Sioux City, was reacting to news that some lawmakers are considering a proposal to allow bars to install gaming devices as a way to make up for any revenue they've lost because of the ban on indoor smoking.

The restriction, which took effect July 1, banned indoor smoking at most workplaces, restaurants and bars. The law exempts casinos, fairgrounds and veterans organizations.

Rep. Brian Quirk, D-New Hampton, said he and several other lawmakers were considering the gaming proposal. Their plan wouldn't include the TouchPlay machines the state's lottery installed and then banned a few years ago, but would include gaming devices such as video Keno games.

Legislative leaders said they were willing to consider the idea.

Rants said the suggestion is an acknowledgment that the smoking ban has hurt business and he claimed it was a way to seek political cover barely six weeks before an election.

"The people who make their livelihoods in these establishments are angry at what they did, and they are right to be angry," said Rants. "They are feeling the pain and they're looking for a way to protect themselves politically."

Democrats from rural sections of the state came under the most heat over the issue, and Rants argued that they are trying blunt the political damage. Rants demanded that legislators spell out their plans before voters cast their ballots.

"You better lay out the details and you better lay it out before the election," Rants said.

The health groups that supported the smoking ban dismissed the worries at the core of the issue, noting repeated studies across the nation had found that such restrictions help as many businesses as they hurt.

"There have been in the neighborhood of 65 different economic studies showing there is no loss of revenue," said Dan Ramsey of the American Lung Association. "There is not revenue loss due to the smoking ban."

Rants said it wasn't fair to ban smoking in bars while allowing it in casinos, and his solution to the disparity was to allow smoking in bars as well. If a smoking ban is good for business, he said, individual bar owners can make that decision.

"Let them make the decision for themselves," said Rants.