Rhode Island Senate President Says if Casino Smoking Offends, ‘Stay Home’
Posted on: December 22, 2023, 09:07h.
Last updated on: December 26, 2023, 11:33h.
Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D-North Providence) is known for fancying a fag. It’s presumably why he’s siding with smokers in the state’s consideration of whether to end indoor tobacco use at Bally’s Twin River Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton.
Ruggerio believes smoke-free casinos would cost the state tax money, because many gamblers enjoy smoking. With iGaming slated to begin in April after state lawmakers and Gov. Dan McKee (D) this year approved a bill authorizing online slot machines and table games, Ruggerio says gamblers who dislike the smell of smoke can stay home.
If you have iGaming, you can stay home. You don’t have to go. If that [smoking] offends you, you can stay home and gamble,” Ruggerio said during an interview with the Boston Globe.
It isn’t the first time the Senate president expressed rather strong opposition to casino workers who desire a clean-air workplace. In June, Ruggerio said that the casino workers who are complaining about cigarette and cigar smoke “took those jobs knowing” that there was smoking.
“Now, all of a sudden, there’s a small group who feels that it’s not good for their health,” Ruggerio said. “Wear a mask. Work in an area where they don’t permit smoking. I think the adjustment has to be made, not legislatively, but between the workers and Bally’s.”
State Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D-Narragansett) says she’ll introduce legislation to ban casino smoking when the 2024 legislative session begins in January.
President Demands $15M for Smoking Ban
Ruggerio argues a smoking ban at Rhode Island’s two casinos would cost the state $15 million a year in reduced gaming taxes.
As I told the unions: give us the $15 million that we are going to lose. They haven’t ponied up yet. If they want to give us the revenue that we will lose as a result, I’ll stop smoking,” Ruggerio declared.
Ruggerio claims that many Rhode Island gamblers checked out Encore Boston Harbor, a $2.6 billion integrated resort from Wynn Resorts, when it opened in June 2019.
“They couldn’t smoke there, especially in the winter, so they came back here,” Ruggerio stated.
Massachusetts law prohibits casino smoking. Casino smoking is also no more at Connecticut’s two tribal casinos, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. The Mohegan Tribe and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation decided to keep their casinos smoke-free in the pandemic’s aftermath.
Rhode Island Smoking Law
Under the state’s 2004 Public Health and Workplace Safety Act, Rhode Island’s two commercial casinos can designate parts of their gaming floor for smoking. The spaces are to be “physically separated” from the nonsmoking area and be equipped with a separate ventilation system.
Many casino workers and some guests say the secondhand smoke doesn’t only stay in the smoking section, but permeates the supposedly smoke-free areas. A grassroots coalition of Bally’s workers formed a local chapter of CEASE, Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, an organization that began in New Jersey, where casino workers are fighting to make Atlantic City casinos go smoke-free.
CEASE also has chapters in Pennsylvania and Kansas. To date, no CEASE group has helped champion changes to their state’s casino smoking laws.
It appeared New Jersey would hold a full Senate and Assembly vote on legislation to end Atlantic City casino smoking. That’s until several Republicans flip-flopped their support in committee. Those lawmakers now want to hear from the casinos with possible remedial solutions other than a complete smoking ban. The Atlantic City casino industry contends that a smoking ban would lead to a more than 2,000 jobs layoff.
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Last Comments ( 3 )
Well the senator should take a walk thru the smoke house on the 1st floor. After the shut down there was no smoking. Then they stupidly added it. This is the same guy who put condoms in his socks without paying for them.
Total disregard for the customers that don't smoke and the $15 million figure is a fabricated joke.
Here's another option -- Stay at home and don't gamble! While surgical masks can provide some level of protection against secondhand smoke, their effectiveness in filtering out smaller smoke particles and gases is limited. It is crucial to consider their limitations and explore other strategies such as designated smoke-free zones, creating smoke-free environments, and encouraging casino gamblers to stay home.