Thursday, April 23, 2020

Coronavirus Changes: Should Tribal Casinos STILL Allow Smoking Inside?

Time to Social Distance smokers


No tribal casinos are NOT OPEN. Tribal Casinos still allow indoor smoking.  Employees and customers are subjected to the dangers of second hand smoke. Coronavirus attacks the LUNGS of those it infects.  It's now MORE dangerous to be around smoking.

Is it time for CA legislators to protect the health and welfare of tribal casino employees?  They practically have eliminated smoking OUTDOORS in many cities, yet their casino benefactors are exempt. (sovereignty, again) Most tribal government offices are smoke free, so any "tradition" argument seems moot.

Should customers demand health protections? Shouldn't the tribes be concerned about their employees health?

A  survey in New England resulted in evidence that people would prefer to gamble in a smoke free environment:
In a random-sample poll of nearly 4,000 residents of the region's six states, half of those who participated in some form of gambling in the past year say they are more likely to visit a casino where smoking is prohibited on the gaming floor. Only 15 percent say they would be less likely to visit a casino where smoking is banned, while 35 percent say it doesn't matter.

Among respondents who had actually visited a casino in the past year, 53 percent said they are more likely to visit a casino that bans smoking. Among women, who constitute a majority of slot-machine players at New England casinos, 57 percent prefer a smoke-free gaming floor, the survey found.

The evidence is piling up on customer preferences.  Yet the health of customers and employees seems not to matter to tribes.

What do you think?  Time to end smoking in tribal casinos?  

Here's a review of Pechanga Casino from Trip Advisor:

smoke and more smoke

Review of Pechanga Casino
Reviewed October 24, 2016 via mobile
We visited the casino knowing that there was smoking allowed but also knowing that there was a non-smoking section. We were really disappointed with the selection of machines in the non0smoking or Smoke-free section. There were large areas of machines that were not working and in the smoke-free area the machines seemed old and tired. If you wanted to play any of the newer games then you had to sit in the smoking section.
We spoke to quite a few people whilst we were there who were talking about how badly the machines were paying out.
We spent a couple of hours there but the smoke was getting to us so we left.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Those casinos are nasty smoke filled ,virus filled death traps..