Question of the Day - 23 October 2021

...is a non-smoking planet. (Exceptions can be made for active volcanoes.)

Smoking is illegal in casinos in Illinois. Try finding an empty table or machine in the Rivers casino in Des Plaines/Chicago.  Early a.m. on Monday or Tuesday about the only time. I think the urge or obsession to gamble is stronger to gamble than to smoke. And there’re rooms to smoke in. The place is packed by noon, lunch time. And they’re expanding. Management saw the empty square footage on the walkway between the garage and casino. They flooded it with slots. They’re all busy early in the morning.

We stayed at the NoMad and loved the smoke-free environment that the Park provided. It was nice not having to walk around the bar looking for a machine that wasn't next to an ashtray with a cigarette smoldering in it.

...customers and particularly employees, we don't really give a rat's ass about your health."  Every other prediction about other business like bars, restaurants, card rooms being non-smoking has pretty much turned out to be false but Nevada holds on...

"We do not expect that it will be permanent..."  Why is that when a much higher percentage of people don't smoke. Why are we subjected to the smoke of those who do? If you don't care about us, how about your employees who have to breathe that smoke in while on the job? 

I’ve never smoked anything. 20 years ago I had a chest X-ray. Doctor asked me when did I quit smoking. He said my lungs looked like I smoked all my life and quit about 5 years ago. I was50 at that time.

As a reformed smoker of 20 years I love the non smoking option. We have two locals that we go to in WV and one is non smoking. I don't leave with stinking clothes. As long as they do good air quality measures most casinos that allow smoking if I am in a smoking section and a smoker sits next to me I just get up and move. I too agree with Kevin a non smoking planet - with the number of COVID deaths that have been covered in the media why is smoking still legal from the CDC "Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure". As I said I am a reformed smoker so I see it both ways but if there was a medicine on the market that caused as much death as cigaretts, don't care what it cured you would not be able to get it. Big tobacco lines the pockets of politicans so they permit it saying it's a personal choice.

I'm glad Sam's Town went to non-smoking at table games, much healthier and more pleasant for dealers as well as customers. But I'm kinda surprised they did this for the reason they stated. They never seemed too concerned about tobacco smoke around dealers or customers before the pandemic. Their attitude was always a fear of losing smoking customers, figured the non-smoking customers would put up with it (which most did). So I think there's another reason they've done this, they're testing the no-smoking idea to see if it brings in more non-smoking gamblers and other customers than the smoking gamblers they might lose. The average *gambling* spend by customer has been declining the past several years, most Strip properties make much more money on their non-gambling activities (the off-Strip places might not be affected as much). Boyd might be trying to jump ahead of the status quo and attract non-smoking visitors, entice them to become regulars, lure them away from pro-smoking places. 

It seems most of LVA readers tend to be Republicans until it comes to smoking and then they don't mind Democrats taxing cigarettes to the roof in an attempt to make them quit. It's hilarious many people inhale far more carcinogens in their commute to work daily, yet will find every reason to complain about a smoker. I guess we have to ban diesel trucks and stop having products and food on shelves. Oh yeah, we're getting there now and not by choice.

My local casino in PA has been smoke free for several months now due to Covid.  All the other casinos in PA have resumed allowing smoking.  It hasn't made the casino less busy.  It's nice having a smoke-free option.

The casino in Cincinnati and the one in Indiana have high energy. One is smoking one isn't. Does anyone have a link to A.C. on t.v. last week?

Love is blind, I suppose.  My husband was smoking when we met, shacked up for years until we tied the knot, etc. Our den would be a haze of cig smoke.  But I never gave a thought to how bad my hair, clothing, all the textiles in our house and cars stunk...until he quit.  That's my gripe with smoking, though certainly it ain't good for one's health for many reasons. Roy mentioned diesel fumes, though I don't recall bringing that smell home.  In Vegas I'd come from the casinos to our hotel room late night stinking to high heaven from cigarette smoke...hair, clothing.  Husband and I are both glad that he quit (some 20 years ago?) and realized just how bad we both stunk from his smoking.  I'm still amazed that it didn't bother me as long as he smoked, but once he quit it was very evident how much cigarette smoke stinks up everything.  Fortunately hotels have improved their ventilation systems, which helps a lot.

Candy

 I personally don't care if people wish to smoke - as long as I do not have to be subject to their smoke. Besides the expense, they will eventually pay the price as their health deteriorates. 

The Park MGM lady lied when she said they are the first nonsmoking casino in Las Vegas.  The first nonsmoking casino in Las Vegas was the Silver City casino, which was located across the street from the Stardust.  It tried to go nonsmoking in the early '90s.  Unfortunately, it didn't last.  Back then, there just wasn't as great a desire for a nonsmoking casino.

Most casinos in Las Vegas will always be smoking-allowed because of one factor: the block of customers from California. CA, especially Southern CA, is the biggest customer constituent of Las Vegas. In CA, smoking is banned in all public institutions, including restaurants, bars, sports or entertainment buildings/arenas, stores/malls & office buildings. Our smoking rate is down to 11% (2nd only to Utah's 10%), but that's still probably over 3 million adults state-wide, over 2 million for Southern CA. Those smokers dream for months about being able to smoke at an indoor place that is not their or a friend's / family member's home. Nevada casinos are the only place where they can light up a cigarette in an indoor public place; they absolutely relish the experience. The casino owners/operators know this; thus they will never all ban smoking in their casinos. Park MGM guessed right that there are enough nonsmoking folks to keep 1 casino in business; not many more such casinos could survive.

Vegas casinos definitely are not as smoky as they were 40 years ago.  The long-term gradual decline in the smoking rate nationwide (and California too) has been reflected in how smoky the Las Vegas casinos were and are.  40 years ago, after being in Vegas casinos, my clothes stunk of cigarette smoke.  I couldn't tell this while I was still in Nevada, but I could tell when I got home and was in my smokeless residence.  I once wore a shirt (that I had worn in a Vegas casino but not yet washed) to work, and a coworker asked me, "You don't smoke, do you?" because he smelled cigarette smoke from my shirt.  From that point on, I never wore such a shirt anywhere until after I washed it.