PA Casino Workers in Anti-Smoking Rally in The State Capital

Seems like smoking and casinos won’t go together for long, not if workers in the Keystone State have anything to do with it. Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE) last week joined forces with Representative Dan Frankel, a longtime proponent of smoke-free legislation, at the Capitol building in Harrisburg. 

The aim was to urge lawmakers to push the loophole in the PA Clean Indoor Air Act that allows indoor smoking within casinos.

Legislators Have a Responsibility to Protect Workers’ Health

The news comes not long after casino workers filed a lawsuit in New Jersey seeking to make the health commissioner of the Garden State responsible for failing to protect their health. 

Will things take a similar turn in Pennsylvania? Not necessarily, as there’s already a bill that seeks to ban smoking inside PA casinos in the works. The proposal was in fact put forward by Frankel himself, although so far it seems as though it hasn’t yet made much progress in the House.

And, while big brands like Caesars Entertainment continue to dig in their heels on the matter, others have shown willing to start putting a foot in the right direction. A new, smoke-free gambling lounge was recently inaugurated at Mohegan PA. However, in a move echoing Caesars’ news this week, the owners of PA Valley Forge Casino recently rejected proposals for a study on a non-smoking policy.

The topic still appears to be generating a lot of mixed feelings. The only 100% smoke-free environment casinos at the moment remain PA online casinos, but here’s hoping that workers will be able to enjoy a fairer deal soon.