Smoking bans

When the California indoor smoking ban went into effect several years ago, the LA card barns screamed and cried and moaned that it would destroy their business. What actually happened was that business increased by more than 20%, as many people who had wanted to play poker but didn't want to inhale pigarette smoke poured in to play.

Many moons ago, I was at Harvey's in Lake Tahoe. It was unusual for a casino to have any non-smoking areas, but they had dedicated the second floor to the tabacco averse. There was a nice a crowd, and it was great to not have a burning death stick on the rail next to you, but putting the non-smokers on the second level (which was more of a glorified balcony overlooking the main floor) was kind of odd, since a large cloud of death still found its way up there.

Buildings were not designed and constructed with a view toward later-adopted smoking regulations or practices. Hotels that adopt non-smoking policies usually do so for reasons of cost involved in cleaning and repairing items, not convenience to non-smoking guests.

Often non-smoking sections in restaurants are only available by transiting the smoking section. Its only later designed casinos that have HVAC systems capable of separating smokers from non smokers. The use of a glass wall and HVAC equipment has made a smoking bingo room and a non-smoking bingo room capable of actually working properly.

Many businesses do find smoking bans are economically beneficial to them. I imagine such bans allow a shift in their customer base. Even people who want a smoke free work atmosphere may still visit a good cigar bar from time to time. A cigarette used to be a means of making a socially acceptable approach. Now there is not need for any such artificial devices.

I won't sit at a BJ table if I have to sit right next to a smoker.

If I go to an empty BJ table (or maybe just one person playing), I ask the dealer to make it a non-smoking table. I haven't had any issues with it, and have received "Thank yous" from several dealers.

Here in St. Louis we just got a smoking ban effective 1/1/2011 in both the city and county. However, one of the main exceptions is for Casino floors, so there won't be any impact.

I know that 2-3 years ago Illinois passed an indoor smoking ban, so maybe one way to check it's impact would be to look at the revenues for the Casino Queen, Alton Belle, and other Illinois casinos to see what happened to their revenue after that took effect.

Personally, as long as they still allow cigar smoking in strip clubs, I'm set!