INDIANAPOLIS – A House committee plans to exempt casinos from a bill imposing a statewide smoking ban after an analyst said the state could lose nearly $200 million annually if customers can’t smoke at gambling venues. The Health Committee took more than two hours of testimony on House Bill 1018 and then delayed a vote to next week. But Chairman Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, said the bill won’t move forward unless the casino exemption is ad ... Jump to full article >>

Commercial broadcasters are set to benefit from paid-for product placement in television programmes under rules proposed by Ofcom, the communications industries regulator. Product placement will be allowed in films, TV series, entertainment shows and sports programmes, but not in children’s and news programmes, UK-produced current affairs, consumer affairs and religious programmes. There will be a ban on the product placement of tobacco, ... Jump to full article >>

Cabell County bars and video lottery parlors could become smoke-free in the near future. The Cabell-Huntington Health Department is drafting a proposal that would ban smoking from bars and gambling parlors, said Dr. Harry Tweel, the health department’s executive director. It likely will conduct a public hearing on it within the next month, he said. “Our board of health has been looking at this issue for some time and monitoring what’s happ ... Jump to full article >>

Smoking and gambling have gone hand in hand for Deanna Standing Rock for years. But when the statewide smoking ban went into full effect earlier this month, adding bars and casinos to the list of public places where smoking is not allowed, Standing Rock didn’t fear an end to her smoke-and-slots routine. That’s because she plays at a casino located on one of Montana’s seven Indian reservations, where smoking is still allowed in ... Jump to full article >>

Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell signed a $27.8 billion budget more than three months into the state’s fiscal year, ending the longest-running financing delay of any U.S. state. The plan, which the Senate approved yesterday and the House passed Oct. 7, raises cigarette taxes and permits gambling on poker, blackjack and other so-called table games at casinos, which were previously limited to slot machines. Lawmakers continue debating how mu ... Jump to full article >>

Tobacco company sees attempted $50 billion cash grab by Ontario as political stunt, unrelated to addressing alleged health concerns MONTREAL, Sept. 29 /CNW Telbec/ – Imperial Tobacco Canada is stunned that a province in which close to 50 per cent of tobacco products purchased are illegal is targeting the legal industry while continuing to turn a blind eye to illegal tobacco sales. “We find it unbelievable that the Government of Ontar ... Jump to full article >>

By Randy Dotinga, Contributing Writer Health Behavior News Service New research suggests that casino workers face a higher risk of heart disease and lung cancer because they work in buildings filled with tobacco smoke. By one scientist’s calculation, six of every 10,000 nonsmoking casino employees in Pennsylvania will die each year because of exposure to secondhand smoke. The estimate does not rely on the tracking of individual casino workers ... Jump to full article >>