Bally’s ban indoor smoking at its Rhode Island casinos

After a smoking ban bill gained support in Rhode Island, Bally’s decided to voluntarily prohibit smoking at its casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton.

US.- Bally’s Corporation announced smoking will no longer be allowed indoors at its gaming facilities in Lincoln and Tiverton, Rhode Island. The decision came after a legislator pushed for a smoking ban at state casinos, backed by the representation of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA).

Bally’s has placed no smoking signs at its tables. Gamblers playing blackjack and other games must now move to a designated smoking area. The casinos have made no mention of the change on their websites or social media channels.

“Customers who wish to smoke must leave the table and use a smoking receptacle on the outer perimeter of the table games area,” Patti Doyle, a Bally’s spokesperson, told The Providence Journal. “We have posted signage and ashtrays have been removed at the tables.”

Smoking was temporarily banned at the casinos when they first reopened after being shuttered due to the pandemic, but those rules were lifted in March of this year.

Representative Teresa Tanzi is sponsoring a bill that seeks to end the exemption that casinos have from the state’s ban on smoking at workplaces. Bill 2022-H 7855 “would repeal the exemption granted to pari-mutuel facilities and casinos from the smoke-free workplace requirement contained in the Public Health and Workplace Safety Act.”

Currently, Rhode Island law requires casinos to create special non-smoking areas, with separate ventilation systems.

Teresa Tanzi commented: “Casino workers are Rhode Islanders, parents, caregivers, taxpayers and human beings, and they deserve the same protections as everyone else in our state.”

A similar loophole exists in New Jersey, where Atlantic City’s casino licensees are the only indoor workplace where smoking is permitted.

See also: Rivers Casino Philadelphia voluntarily bans smoking on gaming floor