The latest skirmish in the battle to ban smoking in Nevada casinos is emerging around a little-discussed area of law more commonly associated with wheelchair ramps and handicap-accessible restrooms. Alongside requirements that public buildings and workplaces be accessible to people with visible handicaps, the 20-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act offers similar protection for people with breathing problems such as asthma and a list of medical conditions exacerbated by secondhand smoke, such as hypertension. In the years before smoking bans became widespread, some courts sided with plaint ... Jump to full article >>

Boyd Cottrell says his Warren bar, complete with lottery machines, is no different from the Detroit casinos. But his patrons at Sporty O’Toole’s can’t smoke while they gamble, he says, unlike casino patrons, because of Michigan’s smoking ban that took effect May 1. Gaming floors at Detroit casinos are exempt from the ban. Cottrell, a retired Detroit police sergeant who dumped his savings into the bar on Mound Road, is challenging the ban in Macomb County Circuit Court. He says the law is unconstitutional, and he wants his fines for violating the ban tossed. “IR ... Jump to full article >>

The Illinois House’s vote last week to exempt casinos from the 2008 Smoke Free Illinois Act could lead to a first in the nation’s history – the first time a state has weakened a statewide smoking ban. Thirty-five states prohibit indoor smoking in public places, Illinois among them. Some of those have exemptions for some establishments, including bars or casinos. Although some states have strengthened their smoke-free laws since their passing, none have gone back to repeal sections of such a law or to carve out exemptions, according to Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, ... Jump to full article >>

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois House voted Tuesday to lift a smoking ban in all of the state’s casinos during a debate that pitted the health of bettors and casino workers against hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues. The proposal, which passed 62-52 and now moves to the state Senate, represents a significant softening of the state’s 2008 anti-smoking law that banned tobacco use in virtually all indoor public areas. “Ladies and gentleman, if we’re serious about our budget crisis in Illinois, let’s be real. This is not about the smoking issue. This is about the money,” sa ... Jump to full article >>

SPRINGFIELD—Gamblers would be able to light up their cigarettes on riverboat casinos once again under legislation that passed the House today, but its fate in the Senate is uncertain. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Dan Burke, D-Chicago, is aimed at keeping gamblers from choosing casinos in neighboring states that allow smoking. He said the lost business costs Illinois and local governments much-needed revenue from their share of gambling taxes. The bill moved to the Senate on a 62-52 vote. The statewide smoke-free act, which took effect Jan. 1, 2008, prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants a ... Jump to full article >>

The mother of a casino employee who died of cancer last year has filed a class action lawsuit against the owners of Harrah’s New Orleans Casino, alleging that secondhand smoke killed her son and exposed other employees to health risks. The secondhand smoke lawsuit was filed earlier this month against Caesars Entertainment Corp. by Denise Bevrotte, the mother of Maceo Bevrotte Jr., who died of cancer on March 9, 2010. According to allegations raised in the complaint, Maceo Bevroette Jr.’s cancer was caused by inhaling the casino’s smoke-filled air for about 15 years, even though he did n ... Jump to full article >>

A big question on a lot of Statehouse minds right now is: Why would Senate President John Cullerton all of a sudden decide to string out his members yet again on a dollar a pack cigarette tax hike when he surely knows that the House will kill it for the umpteenth time? Cullerton wants to raise money from the cigarette tax so he can kill off the controversial law legalizing video gaming in taverns, clubs and truck stops. Video gaming proceeds are supposed to subsidize part of the state’s massive capital construction plan, but the video gaming program hasn’t got off the ground after ... Jump to full article >>

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Belgium’s top court decided Tuesday to widen the country’s smoking ban in public spaces to cover all cafes and the kingdom’s nine casinos from July 1. Smoking has been banned in work places, restaurants and pubs that serve food since 2009, while temporary exemptions had been granted to casinos and cafes that only serve snacks such as crisps and peanuts. The law had called for the exemptions to end sometime between January 1, 2012 and January 1, 2014, but the Flemish Anti-Cancer League asked Belgium’s constitutional court to strike them down. The cour ... Jump to full article >>

Illinois lawmakers played the charade for a while that all indoor workers in the state should be protected by a smoking ban. Now, however, lawmakers are starting to change their tune, recommending that casino workers be put back at risk for the dangers of secondhand smoke. Two new bills have passed by a House Committee on Wednesday, and both are aimed at ensuring that casinos can offer smoking in their establishments in the near future. The first bill would allow individual areas to hand out smoking licenses, and the other would allow casinos to offer smoking indoors. The second of the proposa ... Jump to full article >>

One year after the new tobacco control law passed first reading at the Legislative Assembly (AL), the Government has sent a second draft for lawmakers to analyse. The new proposal allows casinos to set up designated smoking areas but removes the exemptions for saunas, massage lounges and dance halls initially proposed. According to the draft sent to the AL on Friday, casinos have a one-year period to create smoking areas “up to a maximum of 50 percent of the total public area, as long as they are physically separated from the remaining facilities”. These designated areas will also have to ... Jump to full article >>

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana House committee approved a nearly comprehensive statewide smoking ban Wednesday, but the measure still has a long way to go before it can become law. House Bill 1018, sponsored by Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, would outlaw smoking in all public places in Indiana except for casinos, race tracks, riverboats and other gambling facilities. Brown originally wrote the bill without any exemptions, but the House Committee on Public Health amended it Wednesday in light of an estimate by the Indiana Legislative Services Agency that the state would lose up to $190 million a year ... Jump to full article >>