Blackjack tables at the new City Center Aria casino will utilize an air curtain that emanates upwards from tables in an effort to separate player second hand smoke from dealers. This scenario recently was the basis for a long - time dealer's lawsuit claims of negative long term health effects from exposure to casino smoke experienced during years of dealing games at Harrah's Entertainment casinos. MGM Mirage, parent co-venture partner in the City Center project, issued statements that these smoke diversion devices are a reasonable approach to the problem aside from a complete ban on casino smoking altogether. The dealer union representative stated that the approach "sounds like a good idea". Sounds as if perhaps this union spokesman may have had someone standing on his neck considering the apparent strength and faith behind that statement.
MGM Mirage official Cindy Ortega reminds the public that there are designated pathways for nonsmokers that are buffered by 25 feet of nonsmoking space aligning both sides of the pathways. She also states that patrons can traverse the length of the Aria casino without going through the casino per se and thus can avoid smoke exposure. All of Aria and the entire City Center project ascribed to the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification standards. These standards supposedly concentrate on air ventilation design and lead to a hypothetical "clean - air" strategy involving displacement floors that direct all casino air towards high , dead - space ceiling areas and thus away from the casino floor areas where patrons and workers are located. Will it be enough design to keep potentially disgruntled workers, patrons, and lawyers at bay? Is system efficiency adequate to disperse enough of the contaminants? It's been said that "partial smoking bans in enclosed spaces (like casinos) is analogous to having a designated 'no peeing area' on one side of a pool".
Despite these apparent improvements, it can be argued that there will still be potential for future lawsuits from employee second hand smoke exposure problems in Vegas casinos if historical lawsuits and established smoking ban laws applying to other large public gathering establishments serve as a study platform. Additionally, this article depicts the National Health Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's (OSHA) rendering that Vegas casinos should adopt smoke free conditions to ensure safe , breathable air for workers. Testing in some casinos showed unacceptable air quality test results and serve as the basis for that recommendation. The Americans for Nonsmoker's Rights (ANR) website has a discussion / comment site article depicting actual Vegas and other community's casino employee experiences regarding the depth and severity of the second hand smoke working environment. The ANR group supports the workers side of this scenario, obviously.
The gaming industry has long resisted banning of smoking rights in their casinos. As a nonsmoking patron of gaming establishments, I'm generally tolerable of customers who do smoke. Yet, there are times and in some establishments where the air conditions are indeed stifling. Nonsmokers who spend a weekend in Vegas casinos often experience minor respiratory conditions such as a sore throat , nasal discomfort and drainage, or worse depending on their sensitivity levels and degree of exposure. These weekend exposures pale in comparison to the experiences of routine casino workers. On the other hand, I respect basic libertarian rights and choices and am inherently resistant to government intrusion on those rights. At this point in time however , after consideration of the conditions and smoking ban enactments in other similar public areas, it seems inevitable that Vegas casinos will in fact become smoke free at some near future point. It's already apparent that health of casino workers is indeed being compromised due to these conditions. The employee health cost risks (including lawsuits) will simply be too great to avoid enactment. This along with precedents in other public areas just strengthens that outlook. When the lawyers and government become involved, the game is deep in the fourth quarter and it's fourth and long. Thus, these attempts by the new Aria casino appear to be a short -sighted though worthy approach to the second hand smoke problem. They should receive some kudos for attempting something to address the problem , even if they were directed to by their liability insurance companies. The architectural and ventilation system retrofits that will be required to accommodate a full scale smoke - free and / or LEED certified environment in Vegas casinos represents another potential monumental economic drain that the industry certainly doesn't need at this juncture. Can you detect a bailout scenario here? We'll see.
Source article links : San Francisco Examiner and Las Vegas Sun
Cheers...
Charles Higgins
Comments
As for secondhand smoke in the air, OSHA has stated outright that:
"Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS.) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000)...It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded."
-Letter From Greg Watchman, Acting Sec'y, OSHA, To Leroy J Pletten, PHD, July 8, 1997
SECOND HAND SMOKE IS A JOKE
On the job application you are asked about working in a casino where there is exposure to smoke. A person accepts this with a check mark next to "YES" - so the casino hires them and then they sue the casino that gave them a job...just great!
There was once a "smoke-free" casino in Las Vegas called the Holy Cow...and it went out of business. Smoking, alcohol, and gambling are habits (addictions) that are all tied together. Turning Sin City into Disneyland isn't going to help the Las Vegas economey. If you ban smoking in the casinos altogether, many people are going to flock to the local "smoker friendly" bars to play video poker and just stay out of the casinos completely. It's been tried before and many small businesses who served both alcohol and food suffered for this. So what did they do? They stopped serving food so they could allow smoking again and business picked up.
Nevada's anti-smoking advocates enacted a smoking ban through the ballot box in 2006. It exempted casinos. They are still not likely to take on the state's biggest employer and lobbying group.
A smoking ban in Vegas is inevitable. But it is not close to happening. This Caesars' dealers lawsuit is not the first the casinos have faced.
Most importantly, businesses should be able to determine what legal activities take place on their own property. Private businesses don't accept Federal funding to build casinos in Las Vegas. Tobacco is legal, and if a person that's 21 years old makes a decision to visit a casino where smoking, gambling, alcohol, and all-nude revues are permitted, then that is their personal choice. If they don't agree, they can go to church instead. The people who lied on their job applications should be immediately terminated without cause and made to pay for the casino's legal expenses for having to defend against such lawsuits. They agreed to terms that they didn't accept, putting someone else out of a job.
Has anyone actually studied how well this new system works. I have my doubts about it's effectiveness. And even if it does work it does little or nothing for all of the other non-smokers in the casino.
This is a great sign for Macau and Singapore.... Now most of Asia will certainly stay closer to home. That said, there will be a need for fewer LV dealers and many of the casinos will never earn the billions from the worlds fastest growing economies.
The Las Vegas Sands casino in Bethlehem PA has expanded its smoking area after discovering that smokers tend to gamble significantly more than non-smokers. The casino opened with 25% of its gaming floor permitting smoking. But an agreement with the state allows Sands to expand the smoking areas if it is seen that betting is heavier in the smoking sections. The 80% difference caused the casino to immediately increase smoking-friendly space to 50% of the gambling areas.
Smoking bans have led to plummeting casino revenues around the country. Advocates for the bans have claimed the economy is responsible for major sudden drops in revenue when bans are enacted, but Illinois saw its gaming intake drop sharply when smoking privileges were withdrawn, even as smoke-friendly casinos in neighboring states reported revenue increases.
Sands also uses cutting-edge technology to filter air systems to minimize second-hand smoke.
SOURCE >>>
www.onlinecasinoadvisory.com/casino-news/land/sand
Bud:
Absolutely. An expected drop in gaming revenue and the inherent correlated relationship among gamblers and smoking are the basis for casino resistance to smoking bans. It's always been about revenue. Yet, it appears they assume a different type of financial risk from worker health aspects and associated potential lawsuits. Add to that the precedents for smoking bans in most all other public gathering venues. Don't you consider it likely that fewer and fewer casino job applicants will sign these waivers regarding second hand smoke (at least after the economic recovery from this recession occurs)? It will be interesting to watch the opposing lobby groups on this issue. Thanks for your experienced comments.
Cheers...
Charles Higgins
harleyrider,
do you have an updated source?
with the amount of research that has been done in 10+ years, I imagine the opinion could have changed.
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