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
It's one thing not to be able to smoke at work. But on our leisure time, and on our dime, we absolutely refuse to spend our money at a place that does not want us. Period.
Why not let private businesses decide smoking policies on their own property?
Well, Mad, the solution to your problem is self-evident. You need to move upscale. There'll be a lot fewer smokers at $100 baccarat table than at the dollar slots.
As has been well documented, there is a strong inverse relationship between smoking and level of education; between smoking and income levels; and (dare I be so snobbish?) between smoking and social status. No doubt, for example, you've noticed the smoker percentage difference between a place that serves dollar drafts and a place than serves $10 glasses of cabernet. Don't get me wrong, I frequent and enjoy both sorts of places, but the differnce in atmospherics is notable.
The problem's gonna resolve itself, in my opinion. I don't advocate government intervention here, because I truly don't think there's a significant health issue for non-smokers. Stinky sweaters, yes; lung cancer, probably not. But as an ever-greater percentage of the population finally gets a clue, demand for smoke-free environments will increasingly be accommodated.
It's always a lie if it doesn't fit your view! I enjoy Vegas but not the smell/irritation of the smoke. They would get more playing time from me if they went smokelss.
What has this to do with the price of rice in China? I once dated a lady that didn't drink, smoke, red meat, etc. She could outlast you anyday!
I have a mother and you look nothing like her. I'll decide what kind of life I want to lead, how about you butt out?
Annoying huh? Probably as bothersome as the man who sat down to play the slot next to me, as I was smoking, and then started hacking and coughing and asked me not to blow smoke on him. (I wasn't by the way, but I did happen to be directly in front of fan which blew the smoke his way.)
At least one local riverboat has a non-smoking floor. If you don't like smoke, open a non-smoking casino.
I hear ya. I think back to my grand-uncles in Wheatley, Arkansas. I had 4 that I knew personally. Each smoked Winston and/or Lucky Strikes (yeah, the unfiltered kind) since their teen years. Neither one ever stopped smoking until his dying day.
Each lived past the age of 95.
My grandparents [and parents] grew up eating all the eggs, bacon, fatty foods, lard, and real butter. They All lived into their 80's.
Three of them smoked all that time too, and all us kids were healthy. No asthma, and fewer colds and sickness than my grandkids have today!!!
BUMP!
Ken, looks like if the Casinos do not comply, they will be taken to court. Nothing like someone coming into the business that you bought and paid for, and being told how to run it. Shades of ??????
No. In this case, Great Dane is correct. The EPA Second Hand Smoke Study was thrown out in a Federal Court.
Federal Court Rules Against EPA on Second Hand Smoke
I think any anti who tries to dismiss the findings of the U.S. Department of Energy labs at Oak Ridge, should be confronted with the question: "Are you saying that DOE researchers committed scientific fraud and that their findings on ETS exposure are untrue?"
I'd like to see what any anti would say in response to that question....
Stop the personal attacks!
PEL is the basis of OSHA's workplace chemical exposure standards. Trying to appeal to the concept of employee safety while ignoring it is like trying to discuss chemistry with mentioning pH, physics without mentioning inertia, Christianity without mentioning Jesus, or political corruption without mentioning the Democratic Party.
-Eric
Exactly!
Sterling has it correct. It's all about denormalizing smoking. Once again. ~sigh.......
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