Mardi Gras Casino and Resort presented a plan of a designated smoking during a meeting of the Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health earlier this month. (Matt Cardy | Getty Images)
Mardi Gras Casino & Resort recently presented a designated smoking area proposal to the Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health.
The casino, located in Nitro, said in its presentation that its new competitor in Ashland, Kentucky, has a designated smoking area with 190 slot machines. Their argument is that by adding a smoking area, they’ll be able to compete with the casino that’s about 57 miles away.
“This initiative aims to keep Mardi Gras competitive in the market and retain business within West Virginia, as customers currently cross state lines to visit competitors that provide smoking accommodations,” said Glen White, corporate spokesman for parent company Delaware North. “Our proposal outlines the creation of a separate space that ensures the comfort and safety of both smokers and non-smokers.”
In 2008, Kanawha County passed the Clean Indoor Air Regulation, banning people from smoking in public places. In 2020, vaping was added to it.
That same year, Harrison County also passed a clean indoor air regulation. At the time, I was a health reporter in Clarksburg and I remember Harrison Clarksburg Board of Health meetings got heated as irate smokers complained about the law.
I went to the local VFW and talked to men who said since they fought for their country, they should be allowed to smoke in the bar.
In the years since, people have adjusted to the indoor smoking bans, but it could be a slippery slope if the Kanawha County Board of Health allowed Mardi Gras to create a smoking area. Who would want an exemption next? Video lottery parlors? Bars? VFWs? Moose Lodges?
The casino’s proposal included a “high quality” independent HVAC system to remove smoke from the area. Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango said many small businesses wouldn’t be able to afford a system like that, and that the county courthouse’s new HVAC “cost millions and millions of dollars.”
And ventilation may not even help. In 2006, the U.S. Surgeon General released a report that found that the only way to protect people from exposure to secondhand smoke was to eliminate smoking indoors completely.
“Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke,” the report found.
Even HVAC professionals say that filters can only protect people from some, but not all tobacco pollutants.
I don’t need to tell you that West Virginia is not a healthy state. We have the highest smoking rate in the country at 21% of adults — the national average is 12%.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of death in West Virginia, with about 4,280 deaths of state residents each year, according to Aimee Van Cleave, Director of Advocacy at the American Lung Association in West Virginia.
In January, the American Lung Association released its 22nd annual State of Tobacco Control report which found that West Virginia is among the worst states for policies to prevent and reduce tobacco use. We received failing grades in all five categories:
Funding for State Tobacco Prevention Programs – Grade F
Strength of Smokefree Workplace Laws – Grade D
Level of State Tobacco Taxes – Grade F
Coverage and Access to Services to Quit Tobacco – Grade F
Ending the Sale of All Flavored Tobacco Products – Grade F
West Virginia is the worst state in the nation for adult smoking and high school tobacco use — 27% of high schools use tobacco.
The American Lung Association found that even though the state received $226.7 million from tobacco settlement payments and tobacco taxes, it only uses less than half a million dollars to fund tobacco control efforts.
Sometimes it really feels like we’re moving back in time. We know smoking is bad. Secondhand smoke is dangerous as well — it causes approximately 7,300 deaths from lung cancer and 33,900 deaths from heart disease each year.
There’s also thirdhand smoke, which occurs when cancer-causing residue from tobacco smoke sticks to carpets and walls. This residue can linger for weeks to months and reenter the air. The American Lung Association says children and pets may be the most vulnerable to thirdhand smoke.
It’s probably better for customers that they can’t smoke inside the casino and need to go outside for a smoke break because you know what else West Virginians have a problem with? Gambling.
At least 1 in 50 West Virginians will experience a gambling problem, according to The Problem Gambling Help Network of West Virginia. WalletHub ranked the state 8th for most gambling addicted this year.
I understand that Mardi Gras doesn’t want to lose business. Forcing their customers and employees to breathe in secondhand smoke isn’t the answer.
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