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 heard this. But the anti's in here don't and won't believe it. ~sigh.......
The question is one of property rights, pure and simple. Any debate on other issues concedes those rights IMO.
You said a mouthful right there.
It's just one city! Las Vegas!
We do not need more Government Intervention. Let the business owner decide! Right on!
Neither. Just don't smoke where I breathe. Don't throw your butts on the sidewalk or on the roadside starting fires. Thank goodness for non-smoking hotel rooms where the furniture, spreads and carpets are not fouled with smoke and cigarette burns. Thank goodness for non-smoking restaurants and non-smoking planes. Thank goodness for non-smoking work places. Thank goodness that all those bad experiences are just memories now.
Nah, they just smoke expensive cigars instead.
I don't think this is a conservative site anymore even if it once was. It has become a pro-government authoritarian site by becoming captive to people who claim to be consevative.
If I was a consevative, I would be pist.
I am sure genetics play a role, in that smoking won't affect some while in others it definately will cut the life span. The question is, do you know which type of genes you have? Do you want to take that gamble?
Thank goodness that people who do not like smoking have used government guns to remove property rights? They are the bedrock of free societies. The last of them are in the process of being eliminated.
Thank you, I was trying to.
Define the debate, or let your opponents define it.
I agree with you 100% that the government should not dictate to businesses if smoking should be permitted in their establishments. However, in a thread yesterday about doctors and pharmacies opposed to selling cigarettes in drugstores you opposed that business decision. How, do you really feel?
Have the owners of the property decide that question. Problem solved.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.