Victory For Smoking In Bingo Parlors In Greenville, Mississippi

Smoking in casinos is one of the en vogue arguments around the United States. Many cities and states have been regulating their laws to ensure that smoking does not exist at casinos in their areas.

In Greenville, Mississippi, they have concocted rules that allows smoking in their casinos but not in their bingo parlors. Those laws were quickly overturned by a Washington County judge.

Circuit Judge Richard Smith told the city of Greenville that they could not ban smoking in bingo parlors unless they did the same for their casinos. The city's bingo parlor owners felt the original law was unfair.

"Their feeling was if you are going to let casino customers smoke freely then you ought to allow the bingo halls to have the same," said Rep. John Himes. Judge Smith agreed with the bingo parlor owners.

Hines had come up with a Bill where the Mississippi Gaming Commission would have to adopt a rule for smoking in places where gambling was legal. That Bill was defeated in in a House Committee, but still the bingo parlor owners pressed on.

The Gaming Commission has chosen to stay out of this battle. They have not been asked for a ruling on the smoking ban. "We typically leave that up to the city and county governments to address the smoking bans," said Commission Executive Director Larry Gregory.

Other states have had similar battles regarding smoking laws. Many states that have legalized casino gambling have banned smoking from public places, but have exempted casinos from that ban.

Other states and cities have just put an outright ban on smoking , including inside of casinos. Nevada, the casino gambling capital of the United States has a smoking ban in place. They have exempted their casinos from the ban, however.



2008-07-22