San Gabriel Valley : Bingo Players Keep the Right to Light Up

Bingo players at Duarte High School will be able to keep smoking, even if it means the loss of state tobacco education funds, the Duarte Unified School District Board of Education has decided.

State guidelines call for schools to ban smoking everywhere on campus, including at bingo games, where smoking is popular. But for Duarte, and several school districts that allow bingo, a smoking ban could drive away droves of players, and thousands of dollars in profits would be lost. In Duarte, bingo brings in more than $50,000 a year, state tobacco funds only $19,000. . . .