United States – Anti-smoking campaigners include investors whose only desire is to help get smoking banned in casinos.
Proposals Aim to Tackle Indoor Smoking in Casinos
A national no-smoking group and a Michigan health care system proposed two proposals concerning the annual shareholder meetings of the two largest gambling companies and are planning to add another one soon, as reported by The Associated Press.
One of the main objectives would be to research the financial advantages of introducing smoke-free air to casino business operations.
It has not yet been clear whether shareholders will tooth the proposals or not, but the move marks another chapter in an attempt by anti-smoking forces to prohibit tobacco from gaming halls. In New Jersey, this has meant making State lawmakers legislate a ban and filing a suit in state court to overturn a smoking law that includes casinos as an exemption.
Relevant initiatives from the Michigan-based health care system, Trinity Health, and the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation will be put to the vote by Boyd Gaming and Bally’s Corporation shareholders during annual meetings held this year. And the same measure is under consideration for Caesars Entertainment, but it has not indicated the day of the annual meeting yet.
“Many shareholders will be surprised to learn that these casino companies still allow indoor smoking, even in the year 2024, and that the policy is harming the very workers who were instrumental in the companies generating billions of dollars in revenue in 2023,” said Cynthia Hallett, president of the nonsmoker’s group. “If casinos will not do the right thing on their own, then we will continue to explore every avenue to protect the well-being of workers and patrons.”
Casino Workers Join the Push for Change
For Atlantic City Casinos, whether to ban smoking or not is one of the highly debated issues, which is not limited to the workers who are equally concerned about secondhand smoke in all the states, such as Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Virginia.
“We risk our lives every day just by going to work,” said Pete Naccarelli, a longtime Borgata dealer and a leader of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, a group of workers pushing to end smoking at Atlantic City’s nine casinos. “It’s unacceptable and long past time for casino corporations to end this outdated business practice. The least the casinos can do is study the impact of indoor smoking.”
Previously, such proposals had poor chances for these to be accepted and implemented. A report last month by the Conference Board reveals 913 shareholders’ proposals were filed in the year 2023, and 71% of them were voted for, with an average record of support being 23%.
The gambling companies stand for no smoking and the shareholder measure’s incorporation of a study. The proposals of Bally’s, Boyd and Caesars were rejected as ordinary business affairs best run by company management while the demand for micromanaging the corporation is unacceptable.
Industry Response and Regulatory Challenges
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, after hearing the objections from the shareholders of Boyd, made a ruling, dismissing the claims and not allowing the company to go through with the quashing of the shareholders’ proposals. Because the agency has received one single proposal from all three companies under consideration, it is highly likely that its ruling will affect all of them.
Bally’s argued that the proportion imposition was unwarranted and unreasonable. It supported the repeal of the smoking ban last year in Shreveport, Louisiana.
“The company is committed to providing a first-class entertainment experience to both its smoking and non-smoking customers, and compliance with local smoking laws ensures that customers have access to comparable gaming experiences with all other casinos in each market,” Bally wrote.
The Road Ahead
Boyd Gaming also encourages shareholders to vote against it in a note to them.
“The proposal asks for a report on implementing a smoke-free policy, but we believe this proposal is the first step toward forcing our company to unilaterally adopt such a policy, regardless of the actions of our competitors,” wrote them. It argued that Boyd had suffered the most from smoking bans in its markets of the middle and northern parts of the country, adding a lot of risk to its competitive position by banning smoking, as well, as reported by The Associated Press.
Caesars Entertainment was not available to the public for comments on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, Caesars, in a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, highlighted the fact that employees’ and customers’ health is the primary concern. It also said that only these things are taken into account when it develops a smoking policy for its facilities, namely customer preferences, local regulations, and competition policy.