Virginia’s Indoor Clean Air Act was put into law in 2009. But that was before gaming venues such as Rosie’s opened, and well before the concept of full-scale casinos in Virginia were even on the radar.
Juana Wilson, who lives in Virginia Beach and who previously worked in Las Vegas, was thrilled when she learned casinos were coming to Virginia. She was hired by Rivers Casino in Portsmouth.
Wilson recalls her dismay on the eve of the casino's debut, “The day before we opened, cases of ashtrays ended up coming onto the floor. And we were all kind of surprised – we were like, what’s going on? And they were like, Oh! It’s a smoking casino!”
Putting her health before her career, Wilson elected to step away from the job citing, “Because I am a cancer survivor. I don’t want to take chances on secondhand smoke giving me cancer again."
Looking for a solution, Wilson learned of C.E.A.S.E. – Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, which was formed by Atlantic City workers and has since organized in other states. Wilson quickly moved to organize the Virginia chapter. But she’s found that many casino employees who want a smoke-free workplace may hesitate to openly join the group.
Wilson explains, “They’re kind of scared to speak out because they don’t want to be fired if somebody thinks they’re going against the casino. But it’s not really going against the casino. They’re just trying to protect their health. Everybody has the right to breathe clean air – except casino workers.”
With the percentage of smokers in the U.S. at around ten percent, why would casinos risk alienating the other ninety percent? Bronson Frick, Director of Advocacy at Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights offers this explanation, “This really goes back to the history of the tobacco industry seeking to maintain indoor smoking as a way to not only maintain smoking profits, but also to help keep people addicted.”
And studies have found a correlation between smoking and gambling addictions. Frick says, “For a very small subset of customers, which are people with a gambling addiction, there’s a high dual addiction with smoking.”
A smoking ban would force smokers to take breaks when they have the urge to light up and, in so doing, give them more opportunities to walk away from the games – whether winning or losing.
Frick continues, “That’s why smoke-free indoor air is part of responsible gaming best practices. To give people that opportunity to take break, get up from their table, walk that forty seconds outside and have a little bit of a pause.”
Casino’s fears of lost revenue are not supported by the numbers from other casinos that have banned smoking.
It would seem a longshot that Virginia casinos will voluntarily choose to change their policies. So, it may be up to lawmakers to bring about that change.
Virginia State Senator Jennifer Boysko is sympathetic to the plight of the casino employees saying, "Having access to clean air while you’re working is, I think, a fundamental right.”
She agrees that it may be time for the law from fifteen years ago to be revisited. Boysko reasons, “It is time to address the issue around the exception for casinos. Now that we have casinos in operation, those employees have the right to clean air while they’re working. And I think it’s an important issue.”
And, for Juana Wilson, she remains dedicated to the cause and hopeful that she’ll be able to return to the job she loves.
Wilson's voice is filled with tempered optimism, “Oh, I would love to go back. It’s so much fun working in the casinos. Just such a fun environment and everybody’s there to have a good time. I would LOVE to be working there.”
I reached out to all of Virginia’s current and future casinos, none agreed to participate in this story.
