Casino Smoking Ban Bill Supporters Rally at State House

STATE HOUSE — Members of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (C.E.A.S.E. RI) and several unions rallied in the State Capitol rotunda May 20 supporting a casino smoking ban bill, protecting casino employees from second-hand smoke health hazards long exempt from RI’s ban on indoor smoking in businesses and public spaces.

The Casino Smoking Ban bill, H 5464, repeals the exemption granted to pari-mutuel (pool betting) facilities and casinos from the smoke free workplace requirement and provides for a one time appropriation of $1,000,000 to inform patrons of the smoke-free policy.

Casino Smoking Ban Bill Gains Shekarchi, Chippendale Support

It is spearheaded by Rep. Teresa A. Tanzi  (D – Dist. 34 Narragansett, SK) and co-sponsored by several House members, including House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale, (R – Dist. 40 Coventry, Foster, Glocester) and House Speaker Joe Shekarchi (D- Dist. 23, Warwick). Shekarchi’s support this year marks the first time the Warwick rep. has backed the bill, according to a RI Current report.

Even so, the Casino Smoking Ban bill, introduced to House Finance Feb. 12, was held for further study April 10.

Bally’s Twin River Casino in Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton Casino each have smoking-designated sections separating smokers and non-smokers, but such mitigations have been known to to be ineffective protecting people from second-hand smoke for the last 20 years, after the release of A Surgeon General report, ‘The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke,‘ in 2006.

Among the conclusions of that two-decade-old report was that, “Exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke cannot be controlled by air cleaning or mechanical air exchange,” and also that peer reviewed studies showed smoke-free policies and regulations do not have an adverse economic impact on the hospitality industry.

Bally’s, which opposes the ban, contends that gamblers spend more in smoking areas, and Rhode Island casinos’ pro-smoking policy provide an advantage over neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts casinos, where smoking is not allowed, according to a Casino.org report.