Posted on 09/24/2002 4:22:36 PM PDT by SheLion
LAS VEGAS - Perhaps the biggest threat to growth in the U.S. casino industry comes not from antigambling interests, but from health-conscious public officials.
A group that sets the country's indoor air-quality standards is under "enormous" pressure to make casinos and other hospitality venues smoke-free, an expert warned attendees at the Global Gaming Expo on Thursday.
"With the collapse of the tobacco industry, (?) the hospitality industry is next to come under attack," said Elia Sterling, president of Theodor Sterling Associates, an indoor air-quality firm based in Vancouver, B.C.
If the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, or ASHRAE, were to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for smoke particles, casinos could lose billions in revenue, according to legislative analyst Wayne Mehl of the American Gaming Association.
Forty percent to 50 percent of casino gamblers are smokers, about double the percentage of the U.S. population as a whole, Mehl said. A 1993 gaming-industry study showed that Nevada casinos alone would have lost $1 billion in revenue if casinos were forced to go smoke-free.
"It's not just the loss of customers, but also the loss of gambling time - 12 percent less time for smokers. They would spend that time going out for a smoke," Mehl said.
Of course the casino industry is concerned about the effects of second-hand smoke on its employees, Mehl said, but Thursday's panel discussion was all about the bottom line.
The industry will get a glimpse of the possible future beginning Nov. 27, when the three Delaware racetracks become the first casino jurisdiction to go smoke-free as part of a broader state law.
"There's a lot of talk about how much (gaming-tax) revenue the state will lose, and not only that, but jobs, too," said Don Johnson, deputy director of the Delaware State Lottery, which controls the racetrack slot-machine operations.
Delaware officials have been in touch with counterparts in Australia, where every gaming establishment was required to provide a smoke-free gaming area by Sept. 1. Johnson said he was told that the Australian smoking ban caused a sharp decrease in casino revenue initially but that business is beginning to recover.
At issue for U.S. casinos is ASHRAE Standard 62-1999, which governs how casinos, restaurants, bars and lounges filter and dilute their air to control tobacco particles, tobacco odor and body odor.
"It's intended to accommodate smoking in buildings," Sterling said. "This ASHRAE standard is a practical standard and is working well in the field."
For example, he said, the lavish Bellagio casino hotel here "provides better air quality indoors than you'll find outdoors."
Special interests, however, are aggressively pushing for standards so tight they "would effectively ban smoking in the hospitality industry," Sterling said.
ASHRAE (which conveniently rhymes with ashtray) is a 108-year-old non-government trade group of indoor-air specialists whose standards governance has been taken over by public funding and public officials, Sterling said. Today, the group's standards committee is chaired by an official from the Environmental Protection Agency and has only two representatives from the hospitality industry, he said.
"They're in the process of adopting a zero-tolerance approach to tobacco smoke. One molecule of tobacco smoke is unacceptable," Sterling said. "The debate is clearly not about health as it is about social engineering to denormalize smoking."
Matthew Iandoli, a Washington-based lobbyist and lawyer, said the Hospitality Coalition on Indoor Air Quality is trying to pre-empt the proposed new rules by adopting its own guidelines for smoke and ventilation. The group's members include the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, which represents more than 14,000 Atlantic City casino workers, and the Nevada Resort Association, which represents the gaming industry here.
Iandoli warned that any action, or non-action, by the hospitality industry could expose it to substantial legal damages.
"Trial lawyers are trying to find that avenue, trying to find that chink in the armor where they can pursue those class-action lawsuits," he said. "If the ASHRAE standard goes forward, that will be the point at which the lawyers will try to show that the casino industry has harmed its employees."
From the casinos' point of view, Mehl said, the "ideal" solution to shielding employees and customers from smoke is a combination of effective ventilation and smoke-free areas.
To e-mail Joe Weinert at The Press:
JWeinert@pressofac.com
This statement assumes that rights, in this case the right to operate a business, are granted by government. That is incorrect.
Rights do not flow from government. See the Declaration of Independence for a discussion of this concept.
Well, why do you hang out with them!
Not where we live. Everyone is treated like family.
No he doesn't smell like an ashtray! He's very articulate about himself, thank you.
Why don't you find another thread to play in and leave decent people alone.
My point exactly - because there are laws forbidding someone from openning an all smoking establishment.
In the absence of force, in this case by government, people could choose to eat at such establishments or not. If people were interested in standardization of conditions, private rating/approval services would spring up to fill the demand. The UNDERWRITERS LAB, STANDARD AND POORS, GOODHOUSEKEEPING SEAL, DUFF AND PHELPS AND INSURANCE UNDERWRITERS businesses are examples.
The government has taken those resposibilities over, at gunpoint if necessary, in the example of resturants. They do a poor job, predictably. <p.I'm glad you offered my an opportunity to introduce those to you. Civil society works better than government society based on force.
That may be permissible where you live but that is not allowable in the state of Delaware. And that is under the current law, even before the insidious total ban goes into effect in November.
The only exceptions there are to the Delaware Ban are for organizations running charitable fund raisers.
As explained previously, governments have no rights. Governments have power. People have rights. Try to memorize that.
Good advice, for yourself. Please point me to the parts of the constitution which make your point about who has rights and who has powers. Thank you
PS, I have previously asked you to direct me to the place where you said "You can look it up". I am still waiting.
Opposing assinine regulations on business owners does not mean I am not a law abiding person.
You gave no indication this person was smoking in a non permitted location. Your indication was just that someone lit up and you grabbed the cigarette and stomped it out. While your behavior was boorish and rude, if the smoker lit up in a non-permitted location it is slightly acceptable. However, if it was a smoking permitted area you were beyond rude and totally out of line.
If so, you'd be better off staying at home, close to the TV and the ash tray.
That was an extremely out of line comment. Your boorishness suggests you might be the one who should be staying home, close to the TV.
And it matters not a BIT even if ALL the employees are smokers.
I'm sorry, but you are incorrect again. It only works in some places. Most of the thugs who pass such laws also mandate what constitutes a "members only" establishment. Which is an additional problem with these rights violating laws, they require additional government intrusion to make them work.
That is what makes the Delaware law even worse than California - that even is not permitted.
Fraternal organizations (Elks, Moose, etc) Volunteer Fire Companies and Veterans Groups are theonly ones permitted to permit smoking - and only if they are conducting a fundraiser.
Of course any function at any of these locations is always a fund raiser. The increas in membership of the Moose and Elks has been unbelieveable.
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