Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) submitted comments to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board highlighting the issue of indoor smoking after Mount Airy Casino performed better than their non-smoking counterparts while providing a smoke-free experience for workers and guests.
According to a new study published by the Las Vegas-based C3 Gaming, when Pennsylvania lifted the statewide smoking ban, Mount Airy opted to remain smoke-free indoors and experienced an increase in revenue compared to pre-pandemic levels, while its nearby competitor, Mohegan Pocono, reverted to allow smoking indoors and saw a nearly 2 percent drop in revenue compared to pre-pandemic levels.
In a letter to the board, Cynthia Hallett, president and CEO of ANR, points out Mount Airy’s success while they operated smoke-free indoors for most of the last two years as well as the broader trend of casinos going smoke-free to protect the health of their employees and guests.
“For significant parts of 2021 and 2022, Mount Airy voluntarily operated smoke-free indoors, even after pandemic-induced regulations and mask requirements were lifted across Pennsylvania. We applauded this decision and were disappointed to learn of their more recent decision to once again put employee and guest health at risk by allowing indoor smoking… In fact, Mount Airy posted higher revenue from in-person slot and table play for the first quarter this year than in the pre-COVID first quarter of 2019.”
Stressing the detrimental impact of indoor smoking on casino workers, Hallett referred the board to an opinion article by Tammy Brady, a table games dealer who wrote about working among clouds of secondhand smoke and her concerns returning to such unhealthy conditions as she battles cancer. Hallett also noted that experts in air filtration have warned that current systems don’t protect against the harms of secondhand smoke.
“Many in the industry claim that their advanced air filtration systems protect workers from the well-established harms of secondhand smoke,” Hallett wrote. “These claims are false, and the engineers who design those ventilation systems say they don’t solve the problem… warn that even the best filtration and ventilation systems ‘are not effective against secondhand smoke’ and “’can reduce only odor and discomfort but cannot eliminate exposure…
‘There is no currently available or reasonably anticipated ventilation or air cleaning system that can adequately control or significantly reduce the health risks of (environmental tobacco smoke) to an acceptable level.’”
Finally, the letter highlights neighboring states that adopted legislation to close the casino loophole and nearby casinos that are following the larger movement across the industry in going smoke-free indoors.
“The pandemic has brought about a sea change in how the gaming industry thinks about smoke-free policies, and smoke-free indoor casinos are quickly becoming the norm across the United States. Nearly half of all states—including Pennsylvania neighbors New York and Ohio—(and) more than 160 tribal gaming properties and nearly 1,100 gaming venues nationwide do not permit smoking indoors, including other Pennsylvania properties Parx Casino, Live! Philadelphia and Rivers Casino Philadelphia.”
