Proposal to study going smoke-free at Bally’s casinos clears threshold to come back in 2025

Rows of empty slot machines inside Bally's Twin River Lincoln casino last spring. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)

Enough Bally’s Corporation shareholders at its annual meeting last week supported an unsuccessful activist proposal seeking a report on the potential savings of going smoke-free at all the Rhode Island-based casino giant’s properties that the measure can return next year.

About 3.1 million votes were in favor of the proposal by Trinity Health and 23.9 million were against at the May 16 virtual annual meeting, according to Bally’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That amounts to 11.6% support — more than double the 5% threshold required under federal regulation to be eligible for resubmission at the same company’s future meeting.

Cathy Rowan, Trinity Health’s director of socially responsible investments, said she was pleased the proposal got enough support to come back in 2025 — and she intends to re-file.

“For a first-time proposal, that’s a good number of votes,” she said in an interview Thursday. “We want to continue to keep this issue before investors.”

The request from Michigan-based Trinity Health asked Bally’s to commission a study of the economic impact of going smoke-free — not just at its Lincoln and Tiverton casinos, but all of its properties nationwide. Bally’s has 15 casinos across 10 states, a New York golf course, and a Colorado horse racetrack.

Trinity proposed the study in collaboration with the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, based in Berkeley, California.

Bally’s eight-member Board of Directors urged shareholders to vote against Trinity’s proposal, calling it “unwarranted and unreasonable.” The proxy vendor for Rhode Island General Treasurer James Diossa voted in favor of Trinity Health’s proposal. The state pension fund has 990 shares of Bally’s stock worth roughly $11,000.

“I would take it into consideration Mr. Kim’s ownership of the company,” she said, referring to Bally’s Board of Directors Chairman Soo Young Kim.

Kim owns nearly 10.6 million shares of Bally’s stock — representing 26.1% of all shares. The Board of Directors, along with its executive officers, own a combined 28.9% of all company shares. 

Trinity Health owns 440 shares of Bally’s stock, or 0.001% of Bally’s shares.

 Rowan said it was too early to say if Trinity Health would revise its proposal for the 2025 annual meeting.

“We haven’t gotten that far in terms of conversations with the investors,” Rowan said.

An identical proposal Trinity Health pitched to shareholders of Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming was voted down by 78% of shareholders at its May 9 annual meeting held online. 

Trinity Health has an identical proposal on the docket for Caesars Entertainment’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled for June 11 in Reno, Nevada. Rowan said a representative from the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation will present the proposal at the meeting.

Caesars’ 10-member Board of Directors opposes Trinity’s proposal.

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