April 12, 2017 Charlie Minato Regulations,  Smoking Bans

Arlington, Texas Expands Smoking Ban to Bars, Exempts Bingo Parlors

Last night, the Arlington City Council voted to expand the city’s smoking ban to cover bars, clubs and other businesses, but exempted bingo parlors.

The expanded ban removes exemptions for bars, night clubs, strip clubs, pool halls and bowling alleys. However, due to an odd provision by the World Health Organization (WHO), bingo parlors will be exempted. Arlington wanted to earn the status as a 100% Smoke Free City as designated by the WHO.

Smoking in bingo parlors, amongst other businesses, is allowed under the 100% Smoke Free City and after facing opposition from bingo parlor owners and groups like the Knights of Columbus,the city council voted 6-3 to allow smoking to continue at bingo parlors. Smoking will also be allowed at cigar shops.

Previous efforts to expand the smoking ban had failed because of fear that both pool halls and bingo parlors would leave the city.

Arlington is a Dallas suburb with a population of just under 400,000. It is home to AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, and Globe Life Park, home of the Texas Rangers.

Arlington Smoking Bans Tarrant County Texas
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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.

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