Casino employees at four commercial brick-and-mortar gaming properties in Kansas formed a coalition to lobby Topeka City Council to close the indoor smoking loophole.
The Kansas Indoor Clean Air Act prohibits smoking in most public indoor places. The law, which took effect in July 2010, provides an exception for gaming venues, such as the state's four commercial casinos.
A grassroots group of casino employees at Kansas Racecourse's Hollywood Casino, Kansas Star Casino & Resort, Boothill Casino and Kansas Crossing Casino this week launched the Kansas chapter of CEASE (Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects).
CEASE was formed in New Jersey in 2021 after smoking was allowed to return inside nine of Atlantic City's casinos.The smoking comeback follows a moratorium on indoor smoking at casinos ordered by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) during the COVID-9 pandemic.
Expanding into the Midwest
CEASE is now lobbying several state governments to close indoor smoking loopholes allowed in commercial casinos. In addition to New Jersey and Kansas, CEASE has chapters in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
CEASEカンザスの創設者であるジョー・ハフリーは、次のように述べています。「私たちは全米の同業者とともにCEASEカンザスを立ち上げ、ゲーム産業の屋台骨を支える何千人もの労働者に清潔で安全な労働環境を要求しています。Mr. Huffley is a security guard at a casino, and his work often means going in and out of the smoking area.
"Even if you're not sitting at the gaming table like your co-workers, you're inhaling second-hand smoke all shift and coming home smelling like cigarettes," Huffley continued.
“For too long, casino workers were the only community unprotected from the dangers of secondhand smoke at work.”
The Topeka capital has already begun efforts to make its casinos smoke-free.Last month, the state Senate passed a law removing the Kansas Indoor Clean Air exemption for casinos.
The Kansas Legislature ended its 4 session on April 28, but the 2023 session, which opens in January, is expected to address the casino smoking law in the state legislature.
State Gaming Regulators Stand Neutral
The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission (KRGC) has said it has no official position on the ongoing legalization of indoor smoking in casinos.
“As a regulatory agency, KRGC is neutral and takes no position on this issue. KRGC currently enforces state laws and regulations that allow smoking on casino floors,” said a KRGC spokesperson. I read a statement from Randy Evans.
CEASE members say they have long been forced to work in toxic environments.And since it's Mother's Day this Sunday, enough is enough, says Nicole Vitola, a table game dealer in Atlantic City's Borgata, who co-founded the group.
この週末、多くの人が人生で最も大切な女性を祝い、一緒に過ごす中、数え切れないほどの母親や妊婦がアトランティックシティのカジノに出勤し、副流煙を吸いながら危険な環境で働くことを強いられます」とヴィトラは宣言しています。“Having worked in casinos for 20 years, I know this reality firsthand. , working in a high-roller's room with six VIPs blowing cigar smoke in their faces." ``I worried about my health and the health of the unborn child.''
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