On the 20th Anniversary Of RI’s Smokefree Act, Workers Demand The Same Protections Other Workers Have Had For Two Decades

For Immediate Release: April 11, 2025

Contact: ceasesmokingnj@gmail.com

Providence, RI — Casino workers and labor leaders testified at a Rhode Island House Finance Committee hearing yesterday in support of H5464, which would amend the Health and Workplace Safety Act to finally extend smokefree protections to all workers who were left behind when the law passed 20 years ago. Dealers, service staff, cancer survivors, and union leaders shared first hand testimony about the toll of secondhand smoke on their health, livelihoods, and families, demanding the same basic right to breathe clean air at work that most Rhode Islanders have had for two decades.

Vanessa Baker, Rhode Island casino worker and leader of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE) Rhode Island, said: “For the last 20 years, I’ve been breathing secondhand smoke from cigarettes that other people or other workplaces don’t have to endure. I never recognized this until 2020 when COVID hit and casinos were allowed to reopen without smoking. Two years later in 2022, they reinstated the smoking and it took me nine months to get put back on all that medications. I had to take a sick leave of absence for six months to get my lungs back to where I could work. I’m here speaking for 834 of the employees and customers actually on the CEASE Rhode Island page. There’s no safe ventilation that’s protecting us in that building.”

Bill Del Santo, table games dealer and member of Rhode Island’s Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, said: “We’ve been called a ‘competitive advantage’ for them to allow smoking. A recent study asked what was the number one reason people choose their casino. Four percent said it was because it allowed smoking; 24% said it was because it did not. So it’s not a competitive advantage — it’s a clear disadvantage. Last year, Bally’s revenue for Tiverton went down 5.1%. Meanwhile, Foxwoods went up 2% and Mohegan Sun went up 2.6%. Since going non-smoking, they’ve outperformed us every year.”

Karen Gorman, member of Rhode Island’s Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects, said: “I love my job. I absolutely love it. It allows me time with my family that I wouldn’t have if I had a 9 to 5 job Monday through Friday. I don’t want to get cancer. I want to feed my family. I want to buy groceries. I want to pay for my daughter’s taekwondo and for her college education. They say that those filtration systems that push the smoke out of the way, don’t work. So we smell the smoke when we’re away from the floor. If smoking is allowed, I’m probably not going to be able to work at the casino anymore, which really disheartens me. We’re asking for your help to stop the smoking.”

Phil Farinelli, Bally’s casino employee, said: “I’ve been with Bally’s for 12 years. I survived stage 3 neck and head cancer and stage 1 lung at the same time. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I’m here — to say we shouldn’t be subjected to this. It’s not fair. I do all this while helping Bally’s and helping the state earn revenue. What’s not debatable is my worth as a working member of Rhode Island’s economy. I have plenty of years left to give, but I need your help to make my workplace safer. Let’s not forget about the tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders and out-of-state patrons who spend time in these buildings every week.”

Matt Dunham, president of Local 711 (Table Game Dealers’ Union), said: “I know that the pertinent conversation surrounding this matter revolves around money. If that weren’t the case, then Rhode Island’s casinos would have been included in the original legislation 20 years ago. There’s six or seven other unions in Bally’s two buildings that are also eager to rid themselves of a smoke-filled working environment. What is also discounted in the studies are the people you bring back to the casino with the elimination of smoking. Bring this issue up in a room full of people, and you will no doubt hear multiple people declare that they won’t visit our casinos because they can’t tolerate the smoke.”

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Casino Employees Against Smoking (Harmful) Effects (CEASE) is a group of thousands of casino dealers and other frontline gaming workers that formed after indoor smoking returned on July 4, 2021 in Atlantic City, NJ and has expanded to states around the country. CEASE is fighting to permanently remove smoking from our workplaces.

CEASE RHODE Island Facebook group

CEASE website

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