Proposed OSHA Smoking Ban Would Devastate Nevada Economy, Study Says

Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

"If this regulation is enacted, Nevada's economy could lose between $1.9 billion and $3.5 billion in the next five years," Brian Herr, president of the Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce, said on Wednesday.

The study by John Dobra, an associate economics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno and director of the Natural Resource Industry Institute, was commissioned by the Reno and Las Vegas chambers of commerce to analyze the impacts of regulations being considered by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The findings also were presented on Wednesday at the American Gaming Summit in Las Vegas.

"OSHA has proposed a regulation where no one could smoke where they work, work where they smoke or work where anyone else is smoking," Herr said.

"Because workplace includes hotels and casinos, restaurants, bars and anywhere else work is performed, no casino personnel, service personnel or wait staff could enter smoking areas. The result would be a smoking ban for the tourism and hospitality industry."

Dobra based the analysis on the assumption that Nevada's economic growth rate would otherwise continue its current upward course. It also discussed two scenarios, one in which only 1 percent of smokers quit coming to Nevada, the other involving 5 percent.

In both cases, the study assumed the percentages would double over five years as smoking visitors found other places to go to gamble. It also assumed that non-smoking gamblers would spend 15 percent more time in casinos and that smokers who continued to come to Nevada would go outside at least once an hour to have a cigarette, resulting in a 16 percent drop in the amount of time spent gambling.

"In a state which depends on sales and gaming taxes for 75 percent of its general fund revenues, the effects of a workplace smoking ban are gargantuan," Dobra concluded.

The study projected that overall, Nevada could lose between 20,000 and 30,000 jobs in the first year such a ban took effect, and as many as 50,000 jobs over five years.

Combined with lost gaming taxes, total lost revenue to state and local governments could reach nearly $95 million in the first year and up to $150.6 million in the fifth year, it said.

The study will be forwarded to OSHA, which still is considering the regulations.

Herr said the business community favors allowing individual business owners to determine what steps they must take to accommodate smoking and non-smoking patrons and workers.

"Probably the best scenario from a business standpoint would be to let market forces determine what the industry does," he said.