Casino Smoking Ban Winning Broad Support

STATE HOUSE —  A week after members of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (C.E.A.S.E. RI) and unions rallied in the State Capitol backing a casino smoking ban, the bill remains on co-sponsor Speaker Joe Shekarchi ‘s (D- Dist. 23, Warwick) mind.

“I have co-sponsored the casino smoking ban and I met again today with Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D – Dist. 34 Narragansett, SK), who is the sponsor, to further discuss the issue.  The bill is part of the negotiations as we finalize legislative actions in the closing weeks of our session,” Shekarchi wrote Wednesday when asked how the legislation is faring under the dome.

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.

Tanzi said the legislation is waiting a vote to move it out of committee, with a change.

‘We have heard the bill on the House side and I am awaiting the bill coming up for a vote out of the Finance Committee, minus the money for marketing,” Tanzi said Tuesday.

Casino Smoking Ban Bill Popular in House, Senate

House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale, (R – Dist. 40 Coventry, Foster, Glocester), is also a co-sponsor. Aside from cosponsors, the bill enjoys wide support in both General Assembly chambers, said Vanessa Baker, iGaming Manager at Bally’s Twin River Casino and founder of C.E.A.S.E. RI’s Lincoln Chapter.

Fifty-five of 78 Representatives support the bill, with another five pledging support privately, in addition to the co-sponsors. Seventeen of 38 Senators support it, Baker said.

“I know for a fact that if the bill gets to the floor for a vote, that we will win,” Baker said.

‘I know for a fact that if the bill gets to the floor for a vote, that we will win,’ —Vanessa Baker, founder, CEASE RI Chapter

Baker is also heartened by support from the state Senate, where the new  Senate President, Valarie Lawson, is a co-sponsor of the Casino Smoking ban bill.

Baker said she’s heard that Bally’s, the company that owns Bally’s Twin River Casino in Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton Casino, is attempting a compromise that would improve on the non-smoking sections in the casinos. But, she pointed out, indoor segregation between smoking and non-smoking sections of a building don’t work, according to a 2006 report by the U.S. Surgeon General, ‘The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke,‘.

“There is no compromise. Indoor smoking kills,” Baker said.

She also pointed to a report from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), noting their view of the issue: “Only an indoor smoking ban, leading to near zero exposure, provides effective control, and bans on ETS [Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke]exposure have only been recognized as effective by health authorities.”

Revenue Inspired Opposition to Casino Smoking Ban: Outdated Studies, Irresponsible Premise

According to RI Current reporting, Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone III, (D-Dist. 7, Providence, Johnston) opposes the ban based on the potential loss of revenue cited by Bally’s in their objection to the legislation.

Matthew Dunham, President of Council 711,  representing about 630 dealers in the Lincoln and Tiverton casinos supporting the ban, along with the members of SEIU and teamsters working at the casinos, says there are three problems with the revenue-inspired opposition:

1. It’s based on outdated studies
2. It knowingly sacrifices the health and lives of casino employees and casino patrons alike
3. It hinges on the opposite of the state’s purported responsible gambling policy

First, Dunham said, the studies showing that gamblers allowed to smoke inside the casino spend more time in the building, gambling, because they are not leaving occasionally to smoke, increasing revenue, is outdated and doesn’t take other social factors into account. For instance, he said, one such study  was conducted in 2008, during the Great Recession, while another concerned a casino with a major competitor close to the establishment. Also, in recent years, the number of smokers in the United States has been declining.

Yet, he said, politicians are taking the studies at face value. ‘They’re just kind of  believing  it,” Dunham said.

Second, Dunham said, the reasoning knowingly disregards the health of the people working in and visiting the casinos, since they’re  all subjected to second hand  smoke, only differing in the amount and duration of the exposure. When he speaks on the issue, he  said, often there is someone who will remark that they would never enter a casino due to the known health risks of second hand smoke. He said since the COVID-19 pandemic, people have become more aware of their health, particularly when it comes to the air they’re breathing, but also the fragility of good health in general.

There are so many  other health risks that can harm people’s health, Duham said, whereas entering a building where smoking is allowed is a risk that is easily avoided. He said indoor smoking is likely a bigger threat to  attracting new customers than banning it would be to keeping smoking gamblers.

Finally, he said, the idea that allowing smoking keeps people gambling longer, and shouldn’t be upended, contradicts responsible gambling policy.

“All of that data flies in the face of responsible gambling, which the state is supposed to be responsible for,” Dunham said.