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6/20/2025
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General Assembly OKs Sosnowski bill to include casinos in workplace smoking ban
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STATE HOUSE — The General Assembly today approved legislation introduced by Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski that would include casinos in the state’s law prohibiting smoking in workplaces. The measure now moves to the governor’s office.
The bill (2025-S 0188Aaa) would repeal the exemption granted to pari-mutuel facilities and casinos from the smoke-free workplace requirement contained in the Public Health and Workplace Safety Act, commencing July 1, but granting an exemption to a “pari mutual facility smoking lounge,” which is defined as an enclosed area, including, but not limited to, a cigar bar, within any pari mutual facility with a proper ventilation system that will prevent the migration of smoke to nonsmoking areas.
“Everyone deserves to breathe clean air in the workplace,” said Senator Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37, South Kingstown), who sponsored the original Rhode Island Workers’ Safety Act, which banned smoking in places of employment in 2004. “Yes, we want a casino that’s making money because we depend on that revenue; but we want our workers to be strong, healthy and vibrant as they’re making money for our state. I appreciate all the workers who have been there for years waiting for a smoke-free atmosphere.”
Casinos are currently exempted from the 2004 Public Health and Workplace Safety Act, which workers and advocates say has a detrimental impact on casino workers. When Rhode Island’s two casinos reopened in June 2020 following the COVID 19 shutdown, they prohibited indoor smoking as a safety measure. In March of 2022, they reinstated smoking in designated gaming floors.
For more information, contact:
Daniel Trafford, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401)222-1922
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