SB 188 Strikes Nearer to Defending On line casino Employees from Lethal Secondhand Smoke Publicity
June 17, 2025
Contact: press@no-smoke.org
Windfall, RI—In a significant win for working folks, Senate Invoice 188 handed out of the Senate Labor and Gaming Committee in the present day and is now headed to the total Senate ground for a vote. The invoice would shut the longstanding loophole permitting indoor smoking in Rhode Island casinos, lastly extending smokefree office protections to the hundreds of staff uncovered every day to harmful secondhand smoke.
On line casino Workers In opposition to Smoking Results (CEASE) Rhode Island thanks the Senate Labor and Gaming Committee members for his or her management and urges swift passage of the invoice on the Senate ground.
CEASE members and union representatives testified on the listening to, sharing private tales of the continuing well being dangers they face and debunking casinos’ “sky-will-fall” claims about financial influence.
“We’ve been compelled to breathe poison simply to maintain our jobs,” mentioned Vanessa Baker, Rhode Island on line casino employee and chief of CEASE Rhode Island. “This invoice isn’t nearly smoke—it’s about respect, dignity, and the suitable to a secure office. We thank the senators who listened and took motion, however the combat isn’t over till we get this invoice over the end line.”
“I’m a vendor for desk video games, and I can inform you unequivocally that I’m affected by smoke that’s moved round by the air dealing with methods. The smoke is just not eradicated from the realm, it simply will get moved round. So I get the chance to breathe it each hour that I’m working,” mentioned Joel Cohen, a desk video games vendor on the Tiverton and Lincoln casinos. “I occur to know that they transfer the slot machines round, and so they transfer those that generate extra income to the smoking areas and those which are much less common to the non-smoking space. You possibly can ask the slot gamers as a result of that’s the way it works.”
“After I’m serving drinks to folks on the tables or serving particularly on the slot machines, I’m leaning over to place the drinks down and I’m nonetheless inclined or inhaling the entire smoke that they’re smoking. These vents aren’t serving to in any respect,” Karen Gorman, member of Rhode Island’s CEASE and beverage server on the Tiverton On line casino, mentioned. “In the event that they have been working, my eyes wouldn’t sting after my shift is over. My hair and my garments wouldn’t scent like smoke. So what’s being completed proper now isn’t serving to anybody who’s working… I’ve obtained a smile on my face and I’m actually comfortable to do my job. However behind my thoughts, I’m all the time questioning if most cancers goes to be coming for me whereas I’m working on the on line casino with the smoke.”
Whereas CEASE Rhode Island applauds this step ahead and urges the Senate to go this laws, advocates stay involved in regards to the proposed 18-month delay earlier than implementation. This delay not solely prolongs staff’ publicity to dangerous secondhand smoke but in addition offers casinos an prolonged window to foyer in opposition to or weaken the regulation earlier than it takes impact.
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People for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) is a member-supported, non-profit advocacy group that has been working for practically 50 years, since 1976, to guard everybody’s proper to breathe unhazardous air in workplaces and public locations, from places of work and airplanes to eating places, bars, and casinos. ANR has constantly shined a lightweight on the tobacco trade’s interference with sound and life-saving public well being measures and efficiently protected 61% of the inhabitants with native or statewide smokefree office, restaurant, and bar legal guidelines. ANR goals to shut gaps in smokefree protections for staff in all workplaces, together with bars, music venues, casinos, and inns. For extra info, please go to and https://smokefreecasinos.org.
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