Outlook: This is an artist’s rendering of a proposed casino on Terre Haute’s eastside near Interstate 70. Provided image
A smoke-free workplace ordinance benefits the health of people who visit or patronize those entities.
Yet, it’s the employees working in those facilities who are the primary subjects of such a law.
Vigo County’s Clean Air Ordinance clearly states, “Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed areas within place of employment.” The city of Terre Haute’s Clean Air Ordinance explains its purpose is “to protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking in public places and places of employment to guarantee the right of nonsmokers to breathe smoke-free air, and to recognize the need to breathe smoke-free air shall have priority over the right to smoke.”
No ambiguity there. The companion ordinances have been as effective as they are succinct. The community has adapted to smoke-free workplaces after years of debates over personal rights, the impact on businesses and the health of workers in a town with high rates of heart disease, cancer and strokes. Tireless efforts by the Vigo County Health Department and other health organizations to assure clean air in workplaces and public spaces are tacitly appreciated by the community. People just take it for granted these days, and that’s good.
“We have had very little opposition and violations since the Vigo County Clean Indoor Air Ordinance went in to effect in 2007 and in 2012 when the sunset clause encompassed bars,” Joni Wise, administrator for the Vigo County Health Department, said Thursday. “The ordinance was and is well received by our community.”
Since the ordinance took effect, the county’s stubbornly high smoking rate has begun to gradually decline. In 2012, 24% of Vigo County adults smoked, according to the County Health Rankings by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. This year’s rankings show that number has fallen to 22%.
Now, the word “all” in that summary phrase of the Vigo County Clean Air Ordinance could be tested.
A new casino is coming to Terre Haute. County voters approved a gaming facility by a wide 63% to 37% margin through a referendum in the Nov. 5 municipal election. The deadline is Dec. 2 for casino firms to apply to the Indiana Gaming Commission for a state license to operate in Vigo County. Indiana-based Spectacle Entertainment wants to open a casino in Terre Haute.
Smoking is permitted in all of Indiana’s other casinos. French Lick Casino, the new Caesars Southern Indiana casino, and the Tropicana Evansville feature non-smoking areas. Generally, though, Hoosier casinos allow smoking.
The question of whether Terre Haute’s casino would become the state’s first smoke-free casino was raised last week by a representative of the American Lung Association. Nick Torres, director of advocacy for the health organization, told the Tribune-Star that smoke-free casinos “can be successful, as many companies vie for licenses in smoke-free states such as Ohio.”
Torres also pointed out that Indiana’s state smoke-free law contains several loopholes, exempting several entities, including casinos. Still, the state law also permits counties and cities to enact more comprehensive local ordinances. Vigo County and Terre Haute did just that, several years ago.
Undoubtedly, county and city officials will face pressure to exempt Terre Haute’s casino from the local smoke-free ordinances. That would require the county commissioners and Terre Haute City Council to amend those statutes. City and county officials should resist changing the ordinances to exempt the incoming gaming facility.
Instead, the community can distinguish itself as a progressive, 21st-century destination for new residents and employers by pushing to become the home of Indiana’s first fully smoke-free casino. The same arguments hashed out a decade ago about the impact of a smoke-free environment on business and the health of workers also apply in the case of the casino. Patrons will adapt.
The Indiana General Assembly didn’t include casinos in its statewide smoking law, which also took effect in 2012. It also exempts bars, tobacco shops, clubs and fraternal organizations, but permits tougher local ordinances to trump the state’s.
“The General Assembly has viewed the ability to smoke in casinos as a competitive advantage” over other states, said Ed Feigenbaum, editor of Indiana Gaming Insight. Neighboring Illinois and Ohio have smoke-free casinos. Kentucky permits smoking.
The economic impact of Illinois’ decision in 2008 to make its casinos smoke-free is a subject of debate. That action came just weeks after the onset of the national recession. And, casino admissions had peaked in 2000, and a continuing decline followed, according to a 2018 study by a researcher for National Bureau of Economic Research and the University of Illinois at Chicago, cited in a Reuters report. The smoke-free law itself had no significant effect on casino admissions or revenues, the report said. Illinois’ casino operators disagreed.
Feigenbaum said, “On balance, it’s pretty clear that a casino is advantaged by having smoking.”
There are health implications for the workers, though. Secondhand smoke exposure in casinos is 2.4 to 18.5 times higher than offices, and 11.7 times above restaurants, according to the Public Health Law Center in Saint Paul, Minn. Casinos’ foot traffic volume on a 24/7 basis intensifies the smoke residue buildup, according to a 2018 study by San Diego State University.
Terre Haute’s casino is expected to employ between 300 and 400 permanent staffers. Most will be people who previously worked elsewhere in Vigo County, in smoke-free workplaces. Community officials should let those workers continue to enjoy a healthy atmosphere, and then promote the local casino’s smoke-free status a selling point to patrons.
A bit of a gamble? Economically, maybe. Health-wise, not at all.
© 2024 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.