Let's have smoke-free casinos in KC area
Smoking and gambling go together. At least that’s the claim made by casino operators in the Kansas City area, where people are allowed to light up on the gambling floors.
But something else goes together with smoking: cancer and other costly health-related problems suffered by employees and casino customers.
Today, more states such as Illinois and Colorado are banning the harmful habit throughout their casinos. Kansas and Missouri officials also ought to be working toward providing smoke-free environments in all gambling facilities.
It won’t be easy, unfortunately. Missouri has refused to approve a state law that outlaws smoking in public buildings. It likely will take new ordinances in Kansas City, Riverside and North Kansas City to eliminate smoking in those cities’ casinos.
In Kansas, the current statewide smoke-free law does not include gambling floors. State lawmakers should rectify that mistake in the 2013 session.
Smoking is harmful. Responsible public officials should do everything they can to ban it in public places — including all local casinos.
George Hunsucker
Northland
9 months, 2 weeks agodrum, drum, drum… ms. shelly’s ever insistent crusade continues…
Why don’t you write about obama’s accomplishments or leadership? Oops, that’s write, those are myths….
George Hunsucker
Northland
9 months, 2 weeks agomake that that’s RIGHT….
Brian Mehnert
9 months, 2 weeks agoThe casinos are smoke free! As long as YOU don’t go there. For those that do, there is plenty of ventilation and there are non-smoking areas. And don’t even try to complain about the one-millionth exposure you get in the room anyway, you get more car exhaust into your lungs on the way to the casino and home than you could ever get from second hand smoke.
William R. Nelson
9 months, 2 weeks agoSmoking tobacco is stoopid. People who smoke tobacco have a death wish.
That being said, citizens of this nation have the liberty to be stoopid and have a death wish as they flush their $$$ down a toilet.
Other citizens have the liberty NOT to go into a casino. Or start their own SMOKE-FREE casino.
Allan Marshall
9 months, 1 week agoYawn. Who’s stopping one of these casino operators from going smoke-free voluntarily, if market demand was truly there? Let free choice reign, and if such support did exist, one could ban smoking on their own, or someone could get a casino license and open up a smoke-free casino on their own. I know in Mississippi(a non-ban state too), one casino on the Gulf Coast banned smoking on their own. And if anything, Kansas should treat any adult-only business(such as bars) the same way as casinos, and exempt them from the state ban. The city of Wichita got this issue right all along, with their very fair 2008 smoking ban that exempted adult-only businesses.
Anyway, I wish the editors would realize that Illinois, Colorado, and South Dakota casinos were negatively affected by state smoking bans. The city casino tax revenue of multiple Illinois cities that relied on such revenue(i.e. Alton, East Saint Louis, Joliet, Elgin, etc.) plunged, after the Illinois ban took effect. Plus Harrah’s Metropolis in southern Illinois laid off 30 employees in February 2008, as a result of the state ban. There’s no reason why any sane politician would want to impose a smoking ban over casinos.
Scott Ewing
9 months, 1 week agoGee- could it be that the casino opperators don’t want to shut down as many bars and resturants have been forced to do? If you’re so smart, why not open your own smoke-free casino and see how that works for you? No? then buzz off busybody. You represent the fraction of 1% that actually believe the bolony of the drug company shills.