In the fight to ban smoking in casinos, a brand new strategy has emerged: shareholder voting.
shareholders Boyd Gaming, Bally's Entertainment And Caesars Entertainment will put proposals to respective casino corporations to vote on to force them to contemplate the prices related to allowing smoking indoors.
The proposals are sponsored by Trinity Health, a nonprofit health network, and the Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation. Trinity Health, based in Livonia, Michigan, used its shareholder status to do that fight for various health initiatives despite owning only a tiny fraction of those corporations. For example, public records show Trinity owns just 440 shares of Bally stock, or about 0.001% of the corporate.
Boyd, Bally's and Caesars fought to maintain the proposals out of proxy materials distributed to shareholders. The Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the casinos' proposals and the proposals and reasons for them were sent to all shareholders.
Boyd will face a Vote on a non-smoking rating at its annual general meeting on Thursday. Bally's will hold its annual meeting on May 16, and Caesars is anticipated to carry its own meeting in June.
The three corporations collectively operate 75 U.S. casinos that allow indoor smoking if state law allows it. About 14 states allow indoor smoking in industrial casinos.
States like Nevada and New Jersey have generally banned indoor smoking, but have created exceptions for casinos. Legislation to eliminate indoor smoking in casinos is in various stages in several states across the country, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Proponents of smoking bans point to research from C3 Gaming, which concluded that smoke-free casinos generate more revenue and outperform competitors that allow smoking.
Supporters of the proposal argue that shareholders should know the way much casinos are paying for higher medical health insurance premiums for his or her employees, higher maintenance costs and keeping away customers who hate the smoke.
In his statement, Boyd argues that there have been negative impacts in states which have banned indoor smoking. It is argued that these decisions are best left to hotels to follow local trends. If shareholders achieve enforcing a ban (which Boyd says is the true goal of forcing a review), the corporate will lose customers to competitors who proceed to permit smoking.
Caesars board member Jan Jones Blackhurst said Wednesday on the SBC Summit North America, a web based gaming conference, that she believes the choice to ban smoking in casinos ought to be left to governments. She noted that have has shown that smoke-free casinos could suffer economic harm.
“If you look at the United States, generally when casinos ban smoking, revenue drops by 20 to 25%, which in turn creates a huge layoff factor as people start losing their jobs,” she said.
Union responses are mixed. While some worry about potential job losses, the United Auto Workers, which represents greater than 10,000 table game retailers across the country, has stepped up its efforts to combat smoking in casinos, citing secondhand smoke exposure amongst its employees.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, “No amount of exposure to secondhand smoke is safe, and the only way to completely protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke is to have a 100% smoke-free indoor air environment.”
The US Surgeon General says many common practices in casinos, similar to separating smoking and non-smoking areas, purifying the air and ventilating buildings, don’t provide effective protection against secondhand smoke.
Casino operator Parx, which operates locations in Pennsylvania, has decided to stay smoke-free at its Bensalem property, north of Philadelphia, throughout the Covid pandemic. It competes with 4 other local casinos that allow indoor smoking, but said its market share has not suffered.
“Financially, we know we've lost some customers, but we also know we've gained some customers. We don’t believe we’ve seen any significant impact in either case,” Parx spokesman Marc Oppenheimer told CNBC.
Instead, the corporate focuses on guest satisfaction scores and surveys that indicate increases in worker morale.
In Las Vegas, MGM Resorts opened the primary casino resort on the Strip, banning smoking indoors and even on the pool deck. On its website, the property states: “Here at Park MGM we are not afraid to be different and as you may have noticed, we value freshness. This includes the air you breathe.”
For now, Park MGM is the exception, but smoking ban advocates hope it is going to soon develop into the rule.
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