A recently adopted smoking law doesn’t prevent smoking from happening in Portuguese casinos, with the smoke spreading even to non-smoking areas, complains the union that represents the gaming industry in the country.
The Union of Hotel, Tourism and Restaurant Workers (CGTP) last week called the new law “hypocritical” because it restaurant and hotel workers are put at risk from smoke seeping into their workplaces from the smoking areas of the casinos.
The union released this statement last week: “Operators of casinos and gambling rooms only open games in areas where smoking is allowed, and it is very difficult to open any gaming table in areas where smoking is prohibited.”
It added that the law was openly flouted in bars and clubs and that in bingo rooms, “it is not even noted where one can and cannot smoke,” and that there are no barriers to indicate whether smoking is allowed or not.
The union added that although the law requires that workers stay only three hours in a smoky environment, no one monitors that, and that workers are afraid of complaining.
The workers complain that the new has avoided confrontations with casino operators, and other businesses where smoking is now controlled or banned.
