Name: Stephanie Steinberg
Title: Chairwoman
Organization: Smoke-Free Gaming
Location: Englewood, Colo.
Years with Smoke-Free Gaming: Seven years
Primary responsibility: “To ensure that we maintain a presence in the media and the community. If we are out of sight, we are out of mind.”
Organization’s most significant accomplishment: “We succeeded in helping to get a law passed in Colorado so that casino employees are treated fairly and do not have to breathe second-hand smoke.”
Organization’s most significant challenge: “Nevada. It is an untamed beast.”
ENGLEWOOD, COLO.—As chairwoman of Smoke-Free Gaming, Stephanie Steinberg’s mission is to work her nonprofit out of business—to get to a point when all casinos in the United States disallow indoor smoking. “Once all gaming industry employees are protected from second-hand smoke, our mission will be accomplished,” she says.
While there are other nonprofits that advocate a smoke-free working environment, Smoke-Free Gaming is the only one that targets just casinos. It has been doing so since 2004 when Steinberg founded the organization. A casino patron at one time herself, Steinberg began chatting with casino employees and learned that many of them were getting sick with asthma, different types of cancer and other ailments from the unhealthy indoor air to which they were exposed.
“I learned about all of their illnesses,” says Steinberg, whose website includes the story of one Las Vegas casino employee—Cheryl Rose—who died from lung cancer caused from many years of exposure to second-hand smoke in a casino.
Inspired by Personal Experiences
Steinberg once worked for the airlines when smoking was permitted during flight. She also worked as a waitress in a smoking environment. Those experiences, the stories of casino workers she heard, and experiences early in her life growing up around smokers all led up to her forming Smoke-Free Gaming.
Many states have already eliminated smoking in casinos (click here for list) but states such as Nevada and New Jersey still allow it (in Atlantic City, N.J., casinos designate 75 percent of casino floor as nonsmoking.).
“Our focus is on Nevada,” Steinberg says. “It is the No. 1 gaming revenue state. Nevada lawmakers have chiseled away at the clean indoor air law and brought smoking back—even though voters voted to remove smoking from restaurants and bars. We have taken huge steps backward.”
Steinberg says even though gaming industry executives all know going 100 percent smoke free is inevitable, their companies still spends millions of dollars opposing her efforts. “The gaming industry has been historically tied to the tobacco industry for years,” she says.
‘Voodoo Ventilation’
Steinberg says casino owners often install what she calls “voodoo ventilation” to make it seem like they are protecting casino workers from second-hand smoke. Yet, employees are still exposed to the toxic emissions. “One employee had a ring around her pin on her shirt [from cigarette smoke],” Steinberg says.
Steinberg, an Ohio native, says casino workers are especially vulnerable to cigarette smoke because they work in environments that are open 24 hours a day. The smoking never stops. “It affects employee morale,” she says.
Steinberg says it is ironic that casino companies allow smoking in their facilities.
“Smokers die, on average, 15 years early,” she says. “What kind of business plan do you have when you kill off your customers?”
Financial Upside to Eliminating Smoking
For hotel and casino owners, going 100 percent nonsmoking is a cost benefit, Steinberg says. Eighty percent of those who live in the United States are nonsmokers. “Where there is smoking, there is also much more maintenance,” she says. “You get more complaints because of the toxic environment.”
For her work, Steinberg is often quoted in the media. In an Associated Press article detailing a $4.5 million suit filed by a casino dealer against the Tropicana Casino and Resort (the employee won), Steinberg said, “They tell their employees the air is safe and the ventilation is sufficient. And yet, their employees are sick and dying from the toxic, smoke-filled air. The casinos are going to be held accountable and it’s going to cost them.”
To learn more about Smoke-Free Gaming, click here.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
