Happy Belated Birthday!!
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
I have watched this at our favorite bar/restaurant. The non smoking room, (behind glass, heh!), have people coming and going, somewhat. They eat, drink one drink and out they go. The smoking (bar) area, has people eating, having several drinks, talking, laughing having fun.
I know the longer we sit there, the better the tip for the waitress. I don't know......maybe the anti's hate seeing us having so much more fun. You think?
Have you considered that we are in a recesssion?
Let me say that the loss of business started well before 9-11 and any recession.
It's the same with the airlines. When they went smoke-free, smokers stopped flying. Now that the airlines are in dire straights, why don't they have the smoking sections back on the planes. This would help them out tremendously.
1. I am not chipping. Only responded to you. If you do not want me to respond, do NOT respond to my posts!
2. If smokers did not blow smoke in non-smokers faces, we would be more COMFORTABLE.
3. If you look at my posts, they are not hateful. If smokers did not SPEW their spoke, we would not have a problem.
We in Canada have not had a recession, but keep trying, so far we have heard 9-11, recession, I say toss in the last 5 for recessions for good measure.
If your having a bad day, it seems that you come in here to bash us. It doesn't matter what you say, it's not going to change anyone's minds. We smoke. We are not around you and you aren't around us.
Why don't you go to a thread about Boring Gore and worry about him running for President again. Take your bad day out on him!
You and me both. Our favorite place has 2 seperate ventilation systems, but about the only time I see more than one tale taken in the non-smoking section is on Sunday afternoon during football season, and more times than not ashtrays are being brought in there as well - and not a person has ever complained.
I was there for 5 hours yesterday, playing trivia and drinking beer with friends. The only people in the non-smoking section the entire time were the daughter and friend of the owner, who playing in the back corner. when my husband came to pick me up my daughter joined the other 2 little girls. Every table and barstool in the smoking section was full.
BTW - I don't normally spend 5 hours drinking at the bar - yesteday it was an exception - it was my b'day and my present was a few hours of NO responsibilities.
It always amazed me to see people go back into the smoking section years ago to take a puff. When asked why they didn't reserve a seat in the smoking section, they said they couldn't stand to be around all the smoke!
It always amazed me to see people go back into the smoking section years ago to take a puff. When asked why they didn't reserve a seat in the smoking section, they said they couldn't stand to be around all the smoke!
Happy Belated Birthday!!
Sorry. A contraction if you consider going from a +4 to +1 percent GNP growth rate in two years. Enough of a contraction (plus losing $ exchange rates) to put a lot out of business. Typically, the better survive, and the worse do not.
If smokers were not around, then it would be a cleaner, better smelling world. If you don't want me to post, quit responding to me. I am just trying to clean up my in box.
Very interesting. However, Las Vegas has boomed over the past years. And I see nothing wrong with having a haven for adults who choose to do whatever. It IS Sin City afterall. They didn't get that name by catering to kids. heh!
It's time to light up another batch.
Just joshing, I smoke. And I'm also sick to death of the antis telling me where and when I can smoke.
My aunt died at 90 years of age. In perfect health until her doctor told her at age 89 to quit smoking. And she did! She died of a non-smoking related lung cancer. She liked to party!
So do you! hehe!
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