LAS VEGAS! Casino profits could go up in (no) smoke

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

"Do you realize you are enjoying food less due to the damage tobacco does to your taste and smell?"

Really? Is that why all the cigar bars in Tampa are usually packed to the max right before we drop $300 plus on a fine meal? Damn, I'm glad you know how my taste buds work. Without you and the government telling me how to eat, live, and wipe my rear, I don't know how I would get by day to day.

"Fighting for the rights of smokers to make others miserable isn't very noble, but it must be satisfying."

Hmmm, so if we fight for your right to drive a SUV or eat whatever foods you desire, that's not noble either? You miss the point. WE are fighting for the freedom of choice and for pure capitalism. YOU are fighting for facism and socialism. If you're proud of what you are fighting for, come out and say that you're a facist or socialist and don't hide behind the b.s. that's been spewed. I could care less if someone smokes or not in my business. However, I do care when the government tells me who can and can't and who I can serve. That's when the doors close and I take my chips and move to a friendlier state. As you will soon find out, the states that do not have little dictators, who we lovingly call health-Nazis, will prosper from allowing laissez-faire economics dictate what people want instead of having a minority bitch their way of life on to everyone.

You didn't answer the question.
Was this place where you acted so rudely an actual nonsmoking section of land or did you just decide to MAKE it nonsmoking?
If the first I still think you acted rudely unless you first pointed out the fact and asked them to extinguish their cigarette.
If the second you really deserved to get a tongue lashing and/or the holy bejeesis beaten out of you.

I came belatedly to the conclusion that you are, in fact, a robot poster created to mock the conventional smarmy soccer-mom view of the universe which you so thoroughly expounded on this thread.

You fooled me, fer sure! You had me going!

I should have known that nobody could be that lame and eunuch-like in their passive acceptance of being propagandized, controlled and conditioned.

Brilliant, that's what I think! Congrats!

"I ran into one last nite at a high-school cross-country meet. An ex-smoker myself, I don't fool around. I had his cigarette under my foot in less than ten seconds . . ."

Well, I don't know what this guy was doing or not doing. I always try to be considerate of everyone around me when I smoke, even other smokers. I do not try to 'bend' the laws by smoking just on the edge of a non-smoking area. Now, if I were doing all that, and someone put my cigarette under her foot, she'd be picking herself up off the asphalt.

You sound like the last considerate smoker in the world. I didn't think there were any left, since I quit.

You sound pretty tough, but I'm not a 'she'.

And you'd have to get a look at me up close before you made any rash decisions.

You don't get an answer -- this isn't a cross-examination, clown!

"the holy bejeesis beaten out of you."

Many have entertained this thought -- including the man who lost his coffin-nail at the cross-country race! Unfortunately, even for those who qualify, few are willing to pay the price . . .

And there are NO smokers who could last more than two minutes or so -- I KNOW -- I've been there!

' place where you acted so rudely '

Oh, there's one of those poorly-formed assumptions that indicates oxygen starvation.

All the feedback I got after the incident - which was over so quickly hardly anyone noticed - was POSITIVE !!

I take great pains to be polite, never raise my voice, and absolutely NEVER back off, or give an inch. Thank you very much.

I like your posts. I was reminded, by the one I'm responding to, of one of my favorite songs - to paraphrase, "all the stench and ashes seem, to fade into a bad dream, and the 'tiners still aint heard the news, this country's got the "disappearin smoke anywhere you want to" blues." Hammer them, I say - few more rude people than they are.

LENNOX has the answer - pure aire products. They install directly into the intake air handlers... it is a unique product that uses photo-catalytic oxidation to destroy not only odors but harmful contaminants and aireborne pollutants as well. There is nothing on the market as effective..right now the technology only works on residential equipment but the company is working feverously to adapt it to commerical product as well.

I can testify.....pure aire product is amazing... I no longer am controlled by sinus medications this time of year...

You don't get an answer -- this isn't a cross-examination, clown!

Thank you very much for the abuse. I wasn't trying to cross examine, I was trying to gather information with which to make an informed decision about whether what you did was right.

As for lasting two minutes - unless both participants really don't know what they are doing a fight normally doesn't last more than two minutes.

All the feedback I got after the incident - which was over so quickly hardly anyone noticed - was POSITIVE !!

Just because the feedback was positive doesn't mean that you weren't rude. I take great pains to be polite, never raise my voice, and absolutely NEVER back off, or give an inch. Thank you very much.

With the account you have given it is very hard for me to be able to determine whether you were polite or not. As for the rest of it, I commend you on your attitude. I'm much like that myself.

"As for lasting two minutes - unless both participants really don't know what they are doing a fight normally doesn't last more than two minutes."

That's more or less what I said. By definition, I guess smokers don't really know what they're doing . . .

As for abuse, here's a tip -- if you want to avoid getting hit by a train, don't stand in the middle of the tracks.

I can testify.....pure aire product is amazing... I no longer am controlled by sinus medications this time of year

I have heard that Lennox is a very good product. We have 4 air purifiers throughout the house, and the are also terrific! Not only removes the smoke, but dust as well. I am really happy with these.

Makes sense that more than 50% of gamblers would be smokers, they both involve risk taking.

Life is full of risks. I have known people who fell in their showers and that was last call. Yes. Life is full of risks.........no one goes untouched. Life is terminal no matter how we slice it.

As for abuse, here's a tip -- if you want to avoid getting hit by a train, don't stand in the middle of the tracks.

If I had done anything to merit the word, "clown" I wouldn't have said anything at all.
All I have done is ask for information and, when I received verbal abuse instead of answers, have had to assume that you didn't want to say because of the implications to yourself.

By definition, I guess smokers don't really know what they're doing . . .

If you assume that, one of these days you will be wrong, and then it may be both that end up in the hospital.
Never underestimate an opponent. It can end up deadly. Forewarned is forearmed.

Some like to go out terminal early with cancer.

Yeh, even some non-smokers, huh?
Ya rolls the dice and ya takes your chances.
Are YOU gonna be my moral guidance all the time?

I am not bothered from a moral standpoint, as long as smokers pay off their medical bills like everyone else.
Seems so many want to leave the public with their medical bill from the last few months of their lives.
I also after 45 years of warnings of cancer, can't see how smokers can still go to court over anything regarding cigs.
It is a very dangerous freedom.
I can say the same about excessive eating and drinking as well.

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