Rhode Island has joined a growing number of states that allow smoking inside casinos in which lawmakers are pushing for a complete casino smoking ban.
Two members of the Rhode Island legislature have announced they will launch a new effort in this year’s legislative session to end the exemption that allows smoking inside the Bally’s Tiverton and Bally’s Twin River casinos.
Rhode Island Rep. Teresa Tanzi and Rhode Island Senator V. Susan Sosnowski have both consistently filed bills to end the smoking exemption for casinos over the past few years. Both indicated in comments to the Boston Globe that they plan to do so again in 2024. The report added that Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio is maintaining his opposition to ending the casino exemption. Ruggerio, a smoker himself, has maintained that banning smoking will result in a loss of revenue.
“As I told the unions: Give us the $15 million that we are going to lose over here, $15 million or more,” Ruggerio said, according to PlayUSA.com. “They haven’t ponied up yet.”
While supporters of the ban point to statistics they say show the casinos ultimately will gain additional business due to a ban, Ruggerio has pointed to Massachusetts, saying a smoking ban will drive players to Encore Boston Harbor and MGM Springfield.
Tanzi told the news site that research shows “non-smoking properties appear to be performing better than their counterparts that continue to allow smoking.”
