Smoke-free casino advocates take fight to shareholders
Shareholder proposals to study the business impact of non-smoking casino policies at several publicly traded companies are pushing efforts to promote smoke-free casinos into investors’ hands.
Advocates with the Americans Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation and health care provider Trinity Health have called for a vote on whether Caesars Entertainment should commission and disclose a report on potential cost savings from implementing a smoke-free policy at its U.S. properties.
Caesars tried to exclude the proposal from proxy materials for its annual meeting, expected to be held sometime in June. But a Friday response from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed the agency did not agree with Caesars’ reasons for excluding the proposal.
The Reno-based company told the SEC the proposal was related to the company’s “ordinary business operations” as a way to disqualify it under existing exemptions that are meant to dissuade shareholder micro-management over day-to-day operations.
“We note that the gaming experience is the Company’s key product, and accordingly, decisions that the Company makes regarding the accommodations it provides to its customers when they visit the Company’s properties is analogous to the decisions that other companies make regarding which products and services to offer,” lawyers for Caesars said in a February letter to the SEC.
Boyd, Bally’s also targeted
Trinity Health, based in Livonia, Michigan, submitted the proposal and similar ones to Caesars, Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming and Providence, Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corp. in late 2023.
“New customer preferences require an examination of the status quo in which smoking is allowed in gaming properties around the country,” the filers wrote in the supporting resolution. “We believe our company could enhance its ESG (environmental, social and governance) initiatives by conducting the report that our proposal requests.”
Boyd received a similar SEC determination regarding the proposal on March 18. In a proxy statement ahead of its May 9 shareholder meeting, the company’s board of directors recommends voting against the proposal.
“We believe this proposal is the first step toward forcing our Company to unilaterally adopt such a policy, regardless of the actions of our competitors,” according to the proxy statement.
The board of directors at Bally’s similarly recommends its shareholders vote against the proposal at its May 16 meeting.
“While the Board shares the proponents’ interest in the health and well-being of our employees and customers, the Board believes compliance with local legal requirements relating to smoking in casinos together with the Company’s existing policies and practices makes the proposal unwarranted and unreasonable,” the company wrote in its proxy statement.
The proposals call for all three companies to publish a report’s results within six months following the 2024 shareholders meeting.
Smoke-free casino advocates are pushing in multiple areas to close clean indoor air act loopholes that exempt casinos and bars in Nevada and other states. This push at the corporate level comes at roughly the same time as a court challenge with the same goals was filed in New Jersey. And, a new poll of Nevada voters found 58 percent said they would support banning smoking in casinos.
McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.
