Tribal casino will go smoke-free in response to pandemic

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

ARLINGTON — Here’s what you won’t be able to do inside Angel of the Winds Casino Resort when it reopens: Smoke.

Blame it on COVID-19.

Those wishing to puff on a cigarette or cigar, or vape, will need to do so outside the resort’s 300,000 square feet, which covers the gaming, hotel, bowling alley and entertainment areas.

Leaders of the Stillaguamish Tribe, at the request of resort management, signed off on the major change as part of a broader effort to ensure a healthier venue for workers and customers in response to the pandemic.

“As we worked on our (coronavirus) response plan, it was part of the conversation. We understand this virus affects the respiratory system, ” General Manager Travis O’Neil said Tuesday. “This is a bold statement that we will take the team members’ and the guests’ health into consideration.”

The casino closed March 17 as Gov. Jay Inslee moved to shutter restaurants and bars and ban gatherings of large numbers of people. While the governor’s order didn’t apply on tribal lands, leaders of the Stillaguamish and other federally recognized tribes followed suit on their own by shutting down their gaming operations.

Angel of the Winds Casino Resort is looking to reopen next week. But the date could change. Tribal leaders are in contact with Inslee and want to remain on the same page in the fight against the spread of the potentially deadly virus, O’Neil said.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/tribal-casino-will-go-smoke-free-in-response-to-pandemic/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=e9ddbcf57a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-e9ddbcf57a-228635337

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Well good.

Given that only about 14% of Americans currently smoke (I'm not sure what percentage only vapes), and that they are all idiots for doing so, I don't understand why casinos didn't all go smoke free years ago. I would actually visit a bit more often if I didn't have to wind up gasping for breath from the thick clouds of cigarette smoke.

As for any smokers who read this and want to defend your smoking, don't bother. You're an idiot. It is hardly breaking news that smoking is very bad for you. As long ago as the 1940's people called cigarettes coffin nails.

[demigoddess]

2. +1000

they have no idea what they are inhaling. Ammonia for one thing. There are many chemicals in cigarette smoke not just nicotine.

[Aristus]

5. Yeah, about 2,500, 500 of which are toxic all by themselves.

Ammonia, as you said, arsenic, strychnine, and a host of others, the spelling of which exhausts the alphabet.

It's rather amusing that smokers think they're just smoking dried brown leaves. One would think the staggering number of diseases caused or worsened by smoking would be a wake-up call. But I guess not...

[RainCaster]

3. More casinos need to follow this example

I would like to see this in all casinos across the country, tribal or otherwise.

[KT2000]

4. family members are celebrating this

a gang of them, all ages, liked to have bowling night there but had to quit because of the smoke. Good news!