Smoking bans

Ban drinking?

Didn't they try that about 80 or 90 years ago?

I just returned from Beau Rivage in Biloxi. Nice hotel and nice open casino, but the smoke is horrendous. All of my clothes stink after 1 day, and even sleeping is affected. And BR is great when compared to the Hard Rock next door which has a serious fog in it. This is not because someone is smoking right next to you. The first day I didn't see anyone smoking anywhere around me, and yet I still reeked when I got to the room.
When I play in Vegas, I don't notice the smoke as much. Sure, if the player next to me lights up, and is not ultra careful, then I still get some smoke, but overall it doesn't really bother me there.

Yes, I have a choice of entering the casino, and obviously, I chose to do so, but I would relish a chance to go someplace and play in a completely smoke free casino. I also agree with the argument that alcohol should be banned as drunks are a pain to put up with in the casino. Has anyone ever had a good session at a craps table with a drunk present? You know the kind, always making late bets, generally when the dice are already in the air, and of course, never knowing where their bets are on the table, and arguing every payout is wrong, etc. And for whatever reason, the drunker they are, the more they think multiple come bets are the way to play the game, except they have no idea how a come bet works, and likely would not be able to figure if they were sober.
I don't believe alcohol should be banned, but I do believe casinos should be required to prevent drunk patrons from wagering money or interrupting games, and infringing on the enjoyment of other patrons. Of course, this rule, I expect would have an affect on the bottom line. I have to believe more often than not, the casino winds up with the drunk's money........

So where is the smoking vs smoke free casino poll ?

Take a flight to Buffalo and I'll take you to the Falls where the casinos are smoke free...

Oh, Canada!

Recently made a trip to the fairly new French Lick Casino (Indiana). While its not a large casino, they did have a substantially sized non-smoking game room. In the non-smoking room there was 1 Craps table, probably about 10 card tables and a roulette table or two. It was a Saturday night, and it was pretty busy in the non-smoking area. Had to wait to get a spot at the craps table, while there were open spots out in the smoking area. That's the first non-smoking gambling experience I've had, and it was enjoyable.

The only downside was you had to walk through the main casino smoking area to get to it.

Come to the Rockies! All of our mining town casinos are smoke free.

Here is a recent article from the Reno Gazette Journal (April 11th 2010):

http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20104110317

For those that would rather not review the entire article some tidbits that stand out to me:

"Revenues declined by an estimated 20 percent ($400 million) in Illinois casinos after a smoking ban was imposed, according to a 2009 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis."

"Revenues from smoking areas with slots outdid non-smoking areas with slots by 60 to 185 percent at seven Pennsylvania casinos, according to a state of Pennsylvania study in late 2008."

"A smoking ban in Nevada could be more devastating because of tribal gaming, primarily in California, casino executives said. They are concerned any smoking ban that could possibly be imposed on Nevada casinos -- either a state or federal ban -- would not apply to tribal casinos since those casinos are under the control of sovereign Indian nations."

"California's tribal casinos, which are exempt from the state's smoking restrictions, are one of the few public places in California where smoking still is legal. Of the almost 60 casinos operating in California, 98 percent allow smoking, according to a Stanford University study released in February."

I'm a cigar smoker, but I'm a very considerate one. I always search out a low populated table or VP bank if I plan to light up. I dislike cigarette smoke as well, but as that last blurb points out - until the Federal Government can ban smoking in Indian Casinos I don't think Vegas or Reno will consider a full fledge ban.

It's the same here in WA state - Indian casinos are exempt from the statewide public ban on smoking. I appreciate those that have seen no revenue impact for non-smoking establishments, but apparently that is NOT the case for all venues.

Definitely a smoking ban is not revenue neutral when there is a jurisdiction nearby that does allow it. The smoking ban decimated Casino Niagara here when the ban came into effect, with most of the traffic going to Seneca Niagara (a 3 minute drive + border crossing away). Falls Management Company mitigated the effect by taking away most of the table games and moving alot of traffic over to its much more successful Fallview sister. However, I would say that a smoking ban is revenue neutral when no other choice is given. Take Casino Rama for example, in the middle of our fair province, that has not suffered at all because no other choice was available.

Certainly a smoking ban on Nevada casinos would have a negative effect as part of the joy for smokers is the ability to light up at the table without having to worry about a ban in their home jurisdiction.

The following is taken from elsewhere on the forum:
"...In my state, the only public place you can smoke now is in casinos! I was there tonight and some jerk sat next to me with one of those black cigarettes. In less than a minute my throat was raw and my eyes were watering. I took my roulette card and started waving it back in his face. He said 'Does this bother you?" I replied that I love being poisoned usually, but not tonight. He got up and stomped away. I'm sorry, but this has got to end eventually. I just heard today that Michael Douglas has throat cancer from being a chain smoker for decades. I mean, get a clue. "

There are several aspects to this question of smoking. Social, political, economic and perhaps above all, genetic!

As far as most bars and restaurants are concerned these oft-feared smoking bans are often economic boons not banes. Yet for Vegas things are claimed to be different and do actually appear to be different in fact. Drive by Zodies and see that great big "Smoker's Welcome" banner and perhaps more than just smoking is relevant to our inquiries. (For those not quite so "in the know" Zodies prides itself on not only being Smoking friendly but also being accepting of a variety of alternate lifestyles. Its a gay, bisexual, swingers, trans-sexuals, etc. bar. Is it a mere coincidence that it welcomes smokers or is it linked to the other aspects as well? Clearly there are links to smoking and schizophrenia. What about smoking and other behaviors? It may be more than just a matter of cognitive awareness. After all, no one actually ever really believed those Tobacco Company claims about risks. Everybody knew smoking was unhealthy behavior and that it didn't much matter about brands or filters or flavors or anything. Hype is hype and its easily recognized as hype. It just isn't easily acknowledged to be hype.

It is clear that gambling and smoking do seem to be linked for some. I do not smoke or really like to be around smoke. I've referred to smokers as nicotine addicts. However I am aware that some studies indicate a genetic link to a Reward Deficiency Syndrome and that in some aspects asking someone to quit smoking makes about as much sense as asking them to quit having a certain hair color.

Publicly acceptable behavior varies as does legislation. In Colonial America it was by no means improper for a homeowner to fondle an indentured servant's breasts. In addition to the obvious drives involved there was also an economic incentive for him to do so since he obtained an extra year of her indentured servitude for each pregnancy. Intervention in such situations by local authorities would be limited to extreme situations wherein the tax burden on the public for the support of bastards was too great but there was no moral condemnation. Today no one much cares about legitimacy of birth but openly fondling employees is not permitted in our society. Not only do our laws change but the underlying values often change.

Smoking legislation if often compared to the Volstead Act that prohibited alcohol. Yet it must be remembered that neither beer nor hard liquor were really opposed by the American public. Oh sure, the various rabble rousing extremists existed but Manhattan had hundreds of grocery stores that featured attractive young ladies demonstrating how to buy raisin cake and turn it into homemade booze. It would be the equivalent today of having eighty percent of our supermarkets having young ladies demonstrate to shoppers how to cook and inject heroin. Legislation is not always representative of a populations desires. Its usually representative of the desires of a special interest group.

In Colonial America it was unlawful for a Connecticut woman to bake a mince pie. Legislation applied to the woman's activities within her own home but did not apply to the male's activities in transporting or consuming a mince pie in public. Today we no longer tolerate such arbitrary legislation so skewed to certain classifications of people. Or do we? We ban smoking by those who are biochemically driven to such behavior as well as by those who have no compulsions but merely a mild desire to smoke.

For most of American history, legislating smoking behavior even in confined places would have been unthinkable. In a mining boom town in Colorado the adoption of a practice of washing plates in a public restaurant was unusual. Today we would be utterly shocked to be served a meal on the same unwashed plate a prior customer had used. Health concerns are magnified by our increased population density and the increased mobility of our population. Our increased reliance on a variety of insurance schemes induces us to invade private behaviors with ever increasingly intrusive legislation. Smoking in casinos annoys me. Casino owners often try to market themselves to non-smokers by providing both smoking and non-smoking Bingo rooms, but they don't try to ban smokers because smoking and gambling are simply too often linked and casinos do not profit by banning their would be customers.

As communities seek casinos in a desperate measure to keep politicians in office and receiving their bloated salaries (oh, excuse me, I forgot. Its to "balance the budget"), we have to accept that for whatever reasons of biochemistry, genetics or greed, smoking and casinos will continue to be linked.

Yes mohegansun has smoke free areas for slots, and tables $10 games but for any serious table player $50 to $100 you need to be the first one to the table to ask for a no smoking sign. And don't get me started about the player lounges, what a joke!