The Smoking Ban in Bingo clubs is not so clear cut in America!

by Hollie Sanders

When the smoking law was introduced in Kanawha County, USA in 1993 it banned smoking in all public places, but it made bingo halls that sell over 100 bingo tickets exempt from the ban and this has been a very sore point with bar owners ever since. This inconsistency in their smoking laws has prompted some people to consider whether the bingo exemption should be revisited in the county.

The law still states that bingo halls in Kanawha county that allow smoking on their premises must still provide non smoking areas, a bit like how it used to be in the UK, but ultimately the decision is up to them as to whether people smoke on their premises or not as the case may be. The smoking ban in the UK along with the grossly unfair double taxation law has been blamed for many of the bingo hall closures that we have seen taken place over the past few years, with an unprecedented amount bingo hall closing down within the past year alone.

The state supreme court upheld the decision to keep bingo clubs exempt from the smoking ban in 2003 and it has been said that an anti smoking lobby is reluctant to oppose this for fear that new legislation could do more harm than good.

Christina Mickey, who is the project coordinator for the Smoke Free Initiative of West Virginia, said “Anti-smoking advocates had hoped that the court would overturn the law, but county-wide smoking bans are going so well now that her group isn’t inclined to rock the boat by asking lawmakers to repeal the bingo exemption.”

Mickey also went on to say that “her group has been able to persuade many bingo operators – mostly fraternal organizations, volunteer fire departments and civic groups – to follow county smoking bans. It doesn’t cause as much difficulty in communities as the bar owners let on. There are very few of these events that are allowing smoking. We see good cooperation and most of them are going smoke-free. I would say it would be safe to say that that the majority of our bingo operations are now smoke-free.”

Going smoke free has always been a bone of contention all over the world and I would imagine that it will remain a debatable subject for a few years to come yet.