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Michigan Smoking Ban Exempts Casino Facilities

The talks over whether secondhand smoke is hazardous to the health of those people that are expose on it on a daily basis has solved by Michigan legislators. It turns out, according to a new compromised legislation, that secondhand smoke is hazardous in all places in the state of Michigan except on Detroit casino gaming floors.

The compromise was reached by Michigan legislators on December 12th, 2009 and that will be approved by Governor Jennifer Granholm has put a level of urgency on whose lives are worthy of protection from the dangers of secondhand smoking.

The new legislation prohibits smoking in all public areas with an exception given to Detroit casino facilities. Smoking will still not be permitted in casino restaurants and bars but lobbyists were persuasive enough for the casino facilities to keep their gaming floors exempted from the new non-smoking law.

Although Senate Republicans did not agree with the exception granted on casinos and were trying to argue that secondhand smoke is hazardous no matter where it happens, they had to compromise to break the deadlock that has been going on for quite some time now.

The smoking ban makes the state of Michigan the 38th state to ban smoking in some form. There has been an increased awareness in the US about the dangers of secondhand smoking for employees in public areas and state officials have acted accordingly.

Casino facilities have a formidable lobbying presence in the different states in the US and that has led to many casino facilities being exempted from smoking bans.

In some areas like in Atlantic City, New Jersey, casino facilities blamed smoking ban for decreased in their revenues. The smoking ban was temporarily lifted by the AC City Council but AC Casinos still experienced double digit declines in gaming earnings for many months now even with smoking being allowed in casino gaming floors.

12/21/2009 05:17 PM

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