Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Study: Smoking ban could cripple Nevada

A proposed federal rule banning smoking at work would cripple Nevada's tourist economy, costing 50,000 jobs, according to a study done for the Chamber of Commerce.

Mark Smith, president of the Las Vegas chamber, said Wednesday that the state's economy could lose between $1.9 billion and $3.5 billion in tourism revenues over five years from lost business at restaurants, bars and casinos.

The market and the business should set the policy, not the federal government, he said.

But anti-smoking advocates, such as the American Cancer Society and the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition, questioned the study, saying more nonsmokers would be attracted to Las Vegas casinos if they were smoke-free.

The $20,000 study was paid for by the Reno and Las Vegas chambers of commerce.

John Dobra, an associate economics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said tourist-oriented businesses would face a 7,000-job loss in the first year.

Smokers will still come to Las Vegas, he said, but they will spend 10 minutes every hour smoking outdoors. "They'll come, but they'll spend less time gambling," which could be the biggest effect from a smoking ban, he said.

Asked if he had any statistics on loss of business in California, where smoking bans are common, Dobra said he didn't have anything specific.

"In a state like Nevada, which depends on sales and gaming taxes for 75 percent of its general fund revenues, the effects of a workplace smoking ban are catastrophic," Dobra said, noting that he did not include job losses in construction and support businesses.

Mandy Canales-Salazar, president of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition, said the study was misleading. She noted that only 23 percent of U.S. adults still smoke.

"They're missing out on a huge market, the 75 percent of nonsmokers," she said. "Establishments which do go smoke-free do not suffer economically. That is a Tobacco Institute ploy."

The American Cancer Society supports OSHA's proposed rule, Canales-Salazar said.

"We do get people who contact us -- professional gamblers and ordinary tourists -- and they are just appalled at how weak the rules on smoking here are," she said.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has called for a ban on smoking in any workplace.

The studies leading to OSHA's proposal estimated that a nonsmoking worker will consume the smoke from seven cigarettes during one eight-hour shift, said Ken Teeters, assistant professor for hotel management at UNLV.

Food and drink servers, bartenders and dealers in Nevada resorts bear the brunt of smoke-filled air hour after hour, he said.

"It's because they can't get away from it," Teeters said. "Is it worse to lose people for business or from death?"

Nevada's OSHA does not have regulations against workplace smoke, industrial hygienist Ron Parker said. But that doesn't mean the state office doesn't receive complaints.

"Yes, they complain all the time," Parker said.

But Tillerman Restaurant owner Tom Kapp said he fears a smoking ban because 30 percent of his regular customers are smokers.

"I can't tell you what my revenue losses will be if the regulation is implemented, but I can tell you some of the regulars would stop coming in, fewer customers would order after-dinner drinks, desserts and coffee and the loss of travelers from Europe and Asia would be devastating," he said.

Smoking in a restaurant is a business decision, not one for the government, Kapp said.

A workplace smoking ban was introduced in Congress two years ago. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., opposed the bill as an attack on individual rights and Nevada's gaming industry.

archive