The Pennsylvania Clear Indoor Air Act of 2008 offered casinos with an exemption that enables them to designate as much as 50% of their flooring area for inside smoking. Two Democratic state lawmakers need to finish that loophole.
Pennsylvania State Senator Jay Costa addresses the media, asserting his plans to introduce laws in search of to finish indoor on line casino smoking. Underneath present legislation, Pennsylvania casinos can designate as much as half of their gaming flooring for tobacco use. (Picture: Sen. Jay Costa)
State Sen. Jay Costa and Rep. Dan Frankel, each Democrats representing Allegheny County, have issued a memorandum to their respective chamber colleagues in search of their help to ban indoor on line casino smoking. Allegheny County is house to Rivers On line casino Pittsburgh.
Casinos, personal golf equipment, and a few ingesting institutions expose their staff to untenable well being dangers by making the most of loopholes in our Clear Indoor Air Act. Pennsylvanians shouldn’t have to decide on between their jobs and their well being. That’s why I’ll quickly be reintroducing my laws to shut the loopholes that threaten the well being of Pennsylvania staff,” stated Cota in his memo to the Pennsylvania Senate.
Costa and Frankel’s items of laws will search to eradicate loopholes for indoor secondhand smoke at casinos, personal golf equipment, and bars that derive the vast majority of their income from alcohol. The payments may even attempt to increase the definition of cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoking to incorporate e-cigarettes and vaping. It could give localities the authority to implement much more protecting smoke-free laws than the state legislation requires.
Some Casinos Already Smoke-Free
On line casino.org reached out to a number of casinos within the commonwealth to seek out out their newest indoor smoking protocols.
Parx On line casino close to Philadelphia and Rivers On line casino Philadelphia each stated indoor smoking stays off-limits in the meanwhile. Neither on line casino would verify whether or not that’s everlasting. However their respective host municipality and metropolis usually are not presently requiring such a ban.
Parx’s satellite tv for pc on line casino, being in-built Shippensburg, may even be smoke-free when it opens later this 12 months, the corporate says.
Stay! On line casino Resort Philadelphia, which, like Rivers, is contained in the Philadelphia metropolis limits, says it has allowed indoor on line casino smoking to return. Mount Ethereal On line casino Resort, which voluntarily banned indoor smoking even after the state allowed such smoking to renew amid the pandemic, says that rule continues.
The Pocono Mountains property informed On line casino.org that indoor on line casino smoking stays prohibited, and there are not any plans to reverse that call.
Bistate Motion
Lawmakers in New Jersey are additionally mulling whether or not to finish the indoor smoking loophole that was afforded to Atlantic Metropolis casinos beneath the state’s Smoke-Free Air Act of 2006. Opponents of the legislative effort argue that prohibiting on line casino smoking in Atlantic Metropolis would put the 9 resorts at a aggressive drawback with neighboring Pennsylvania casinos.
Costa says banning indoor smoking in all public locations is justified, as smoking is much much less prevalent. He says statistics present that 21% of the US grownup inhabitants commonly smoked when Pennsylvania handed its clear indoor air legislation. At present, solely 14% of the US grownup inhabitants reportedly consumes tobacco.
New Jersey’s gaming business says a smoking ban would threaten as many as 2,500 on line casino jobs. However these projections are primarily based on indoor smoking persevering with at Philadelphia casinos, situated simply 50 miles west of the New Jersey on line casino city.
