After protests by employees, Bally’s bans smoking at gaming tables in its Rhode Island casinos

Saturday, May 28, 2022 2:47 PM
  • Antonia Noori Farzan, The Providence Journal

Smoking will no longer be allowed at table games at Bally’s Twin River Lincoln and Tiverton casinos.

New rules went into effect Friday morning, spokeswoman Patti Doyle confirmed.

“Customers who wish to smoke must leave the table and use a smoking receptacle on the outer perimeter of the table games area,” she wrote in an email. “We have posted signage and ashtrays have been removed at the tables.”

Workers have been rallying to ban smoking inside the casinos, noting the health hazards associated with secondhand smoke. A bill introduced by Rep. Teresa Tanzi, D-Narragansett, seeks to repeal the state law that allows casinos to be exempt from the ban on smoking in workplaces.