Smoking banned at Cherokee Casinos
Properties owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina will no longer allow smoking.
US.- Casinos in Cherokee and Murphy, North Carolina, will become permanently smoke-free following a majority vote by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council. The change affects Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River.
Tribal Council passed the measure with eight members in support and four opposed. Painttown representatives Tommye Saunooke and Dike Sneed voted against, along with Yellowhill representatives David Wolfe and TW Saunooke.
Indoor smoking had been allowed at both venues until their temporary closure due in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When the casinos reopened in May 2020, indoor smoking was banned as part of Harrah’s Covid-19 safety protocols. Currently, patrons may smoke only in designated outdoor smoking areas.
Lavita Hill, author of the legislation, told the council, “I’m so grateful right now. This is amazing. This is huge for the EBCI. This is huge for us, as leaders in Indian Country, and I want to just thank you all.”
Big Cove representative Teresa McCoy, a former smoker, said: “It’s a national thing that people are paying attention to — you can’t smoke in restaurants anymore, airplanes, none of that. Smoking is an addiction,” she added: “It’s an option and it’s a killer.”
The submitted legislation included the following amendment to Cherokee Code Sec. 130-3503: “Smoking may be permitted inside an enclosed area located on the grounds of Tribal casino gaming Enterprises and which is specifically designated as a ‘smoking area’. A designated ‘smoking area’ must be sufficiently removed from Tribal casino gaming operations so that smoke does not migrate into an enclosed area where smoking is prohibited pursuant to this Part.”
Chief Sneed offered an amendment, which was accepted, to add the word “non-smoking” to the first line so it would now read, “Smoking may be permitted inside an enclosed area located on the grounds of Tribal casino non-smoking gaming Enterprises and which is specifically designated as a ‘smoking area’.”
He explained the reasoning for the amendment: “That would give the property the ability to create an enclosed smoking room that has machines in it. So, it’s a smoking area. The way the language is written now essentially you couldn’t smoke around any casino operations.”
