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Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.
Another view?
View more of the Las Vegas Sun's opinion section:
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I will never visit Las Vegas again because of the secondhand smoke that was everywhere during my visit.
My eyes and sinuses were miserable during my entire visit. With all of the evidence that secondhand smoke causes illness, how does this city continue to allow it? I stayed at the MGM Grand and had to walk through the casinos to get to the lobby, get a cup of coffee, etc. Other hotels were the same. Also, smokers walked freely while they puffed away. Otherwise, the area was beautiful.
I concur Sheila with your observation. The older casinos seem to be worse due to older a/c ventilation systems.
I use to visit Pensacola 2-3 times a year in the early 90's while in college. Nice beaches and enjoyed my visits to McGuire's restaurant. They make an excellent grilled chicken burger.
I absolutely agree
The premise of casinos is that gamblers addictive nature means that broadly speaking they are also addictive smokers
WOW, we agree. However, I think they should ban smoking in all public places.
To all the smokers who will be screaming they have a right to smoke. I too have a right to say I do not want to smell or inhale your second hand smoke.
Smokers will say they have the right to smoke, but at expense of others especially children?
I like Pensacola and I agree they do have very nice beaches.
Letter writer is dead on center correct. Smoking stinks.
CarmineD
Sadly, smokers by and large are ridiculously inconsiderate, and could care less that their smoke offends or bothers anybody. Factually however, smoking isn't illegal in most instances, and in the few it is, the law isn't even enforced.
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But like most issues, this one comes down to simply taking responsibility for yourself, not expecting anybody else to take care of it for you.
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There are rooms set aside in every casino for non-smokers. All of our restaurants, that aren't poker bars, are non-smoking. There are non-smoking sections in many casinos, of varying sizes.
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Do your research, and avoid the casinos where smoking is the heaviest. Generally, the older the casino, the worse it is for stench and a proliferation of chain smokers.
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Perhaps another reader can share information on strip casinos, I never go there. Green Valley Ranch has the largest, best non-smoking area I know of, with a wide range of machines. Sunset station has a decent sized area, and the M generously set aside an entire, smirk, 12 machines for non smokers. I remember reading that Arizona Charlies opened a nice one as well, no clue if it still exists.
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You can have a reasonably smoke free visit to Las Vegas, you do have to plan it out however.
If smoking was banned in casinos then the smokers would go to other casinos in other states.
It probably would result in 10,000's of layoffs in the valley.
Government coffers would plummet and money for schools and other government services would have to be dramastic cut too.
I don't like the smoke either but this is the real world boys and girls.
Nothing like lighting up a big fat cigar and sitting down to play a little blackjack.
Never ceases to amaze me how so many people in this town want to change the way Vegas has been doing things for years.
I've said it time and again, if you don't like it here leave.
"I will never visit Las Vegas again because of the secondhand smoke that was everywhere during my visit."
Ingram -- so is car exhaust and various other fumes and smells. It's called being in public and is annoying to various intolerant, overly sensitive types like you.
"...I think they should ban smoking in all public places."
kepi -- how is that fair to smokers? You know, that pesky American equality thing.
"Sadly, smokers by and large are ridiculously inconsiderate, and could care less that their smoke offends or bothers anybody."
anchorbine -- good post. My experience is smokers have become generally more considerate, but those like this letter writer (who may or may not be telling the truth) seem to want to be offended. Like when a smoker in open air enjoying a nicotine hit is accosted by a determined-to-be-offended opponent who placing himself downwind. You know, another smoke-nazi. Common courtesy seems to be suspended in a situation like that.
Funny how not one poster here mentioned anything about private property rights. Whether a casino or a neighborhood bar, it's up to the proprietor what's allowed and prohibited, in deference to patrons. I grew up Mormon and a non-smoker. Except for the occasional cigar, still am. In certain kinds of places people smoke, like the ones with the live music worth listening and dancing to. One always has the option of going elsewhere.
"The healthists aren't protecting anyone. What they're protecting is a "right" for themselves that they've fashioned out of whole cloth. They're fighting to get invited to the party, then make the rules once they get there. They want the so-called "right" to be self-appointed nanny, mother, rule maker, and rule enforcer for everyone else. It isn't enough for the smoke-free crowd to merely embrace good habits themselves. They want everyone else to share those habits too -- by force if necessary. It isn't enough for them to simply avoid businesses that allow smoking. They want a king's fiat to make them smoke free, or shut them down." -- Radley Balko's testimony about the smoking ban before the District of Columbia City Council, online @ http://www.cato.org/testimony/dct-rb0614......
Absolutely correct KillerB on the private property statement. Hotels have been asked about going totally non smoking, and although they do have non-smoking areas they will never not allow it in casinos. Some posters here seem to think that thier agendas need to be enforced simply because thats what they want.
You all can rest assured that there will always be smoking in casinos. So my suggestion is if you don't like it, don't go in one. If you don't like our laws here, MOVE to Cal. or NY.
I think many smokers just do not realize the effect they have on someone they sit next to a person who does not smoke. I have had to get up and leave many times because of the smoke making it hard to breathe or the stinging in my eyes. I know some casinos have non smoking areas but the machines I want to play are not always in them. I truly feel for the employees who work the gaming tables, having to put up with several people at one time blowing smoke in your face. I doubt it will ever stop, so I look for casinos with high ceilings and go when they are not so busy.
There is no actual evidence that secondhand smoke causes any disease. The entire movement is based on theory and nothing more. I quit smoking 4 years ago, however I have never found it offensive for someone near me to light up a cigarette. Cigars, have always been offensive, but I simply walk away from it.
When I visit Las Vegas, I put up with second hand smoke for brief periods of time until I can liberate myself from whatever got me into that particular area. But you seem overly preoccupied with it. If you're overly focused on second hand smoke, it's going to become a bigger problem for you than it actually is. Mentally.
This is why I smoke a pipe. I have never had somebody look at me with disgust. If anything, they always say it reminds them of their grandfather. I think the modern casinos have better ventilation systems so my advice is spend a few bucks more and stay in a nice modern casino.
Sheila,
Why visit Las Vegas if you can go to a number of other locations closer to you? Or maybe gamble online, if there are no casinos without smoking. Go to another location for a vacation where you can enjoy non-smoking facilities.
It is common knowledge for most that there is smoking in Las Vegas casinos. If you don't know, then you should do some research or make inquires by phone before you go someplace.
You have freedom of choice, as we all have, so make the choices that fit your desires & needs, and avoid those that don't. Easy!
It would be like me vacationing in Florida and complaining about the mold giving me the same symptoms. A humid environment is ridden with mold, even if unseen. I am allergic to molds, so I will never visit Florida. My informed choice. I don't miss going to Florida either.
I wish that no one smoked but they do so if you don't like it you should probably not come back.
"Smokers walked freely while they puffed away" Well gee it's not like smoking is illegal. You Sheila dear should wear a mask if this is the worst problem you encounter!
I would tend to believe that if the letter writer hadn't lost so much money here gambling, that perceived second hand smoke haze wouldn't have tasted as bad to her.
Tobacco is a legal product. Gambling is legal in Nevada. They often go hand in hand. End of story. Thanks for visiting.
Tobacco is a legal product.
Blowing smoke into another person's lungs (who can't voluntary breathe, of course) is not a protected right!
Your cigarette smoke, MY lungs. Get it?
Sorry, but air pollution can and is regulated and cigarette/cigar smoke produces air pollution! Especially indoors, where it is the worst. Cars produce pollution too but you can't drive your car and let it run inside a casino!
By the way, these states have smoke-free (not owned by tribes) casinos:
CO, IL, MT, SD, FL, MD, ME, DE, OH and soon in MA. CA has smoke-free card rooms. Also Puerto Rico, a U.S. Territory has smoke-free casinos. And more states are following suit with smoke-free laws applying to casino employees so they have the same protection as others do in their 40-hour a week workplaces. When there are any exemptions in clean air laws (smoking bans) that means some people are outcast and do not have the same breathing rights as others. Sounds like oppression!
Even in Macau (China) the highest gaming revenue location in the world with Sands Corp and MGM there, smoking is going to be restricted to no more than have the building starting Jan. 1, 2013. Vegas doesn't even make it halve. But with Macau having a very high smoker rate, the country believes in reducing tobacco consumption and clearing the air and reducing all the health car costs!
Surprise, surprise! But smoking and gambling do not go hand-in-hand. Even poker rooms and poker tournaments around the country are non smoking. Again, smoking and gambling do NOT go hand-in-hand!
And by the way, to the uninformed people out there who think smoking is a right, smoking cigarettes is not mentioned any where in the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights. It's a behavior, not a right.
So accept these laws and stop complaining over your addiction and thinking you can light up and blow smoke anywhere you want to around other people where they are working.
The next time you see a bridge... get over it.
I feel bad for all the non smoking bartenders at places like the Skyline Casino in Henderson. A low ceiling death trap. Smoke is everywhere, making it a dirty stinkhole. Thanks, Jim Marsh, you've done nothing to mitigate the stench. Did you read that on average, smokers live ten years less than non smokers? Pitiful...
By missd Nov. 4, 2012 12:20 a.m.
Nice and very informative comment. Thank you for the information.
robert duggan Nov. 4, 2012 1:03 a.m
I don't think smokers care about shortening their life. Too bad people care more about smoking than living. What do you tell a loved one when you find out you have cancer?
Hmmmm....not sure everyone is looking at this from all angles. I'm not condoning smoking, but this person came here (las vegas) from another state. That state (florida) has a HIGH content of moisture (along with other things) in the air. Is it possible that her respiratory and sinus system was not acclimated to the dry, different allergies associated with las vegas?? Not saying that smoke was entirely innocent.....
To sit and stare at spinning wheels and various digital mirage -- Amidst the sounds of bells and whistles - methodically stuffing pensions and college funds into a slot-reader a $100 dollar bill at a time - to satisfy that digital-zombie, crack-addiction gambler's fantasy of sudden and instant wealth!
Nicotine provides a worthy stimulant to keep you there for hours -- No need for sustenance"No need for insulin".no need for clock watching -- No troubles...No worries!
Good for the casinos Bad for the gambler's net worth and cardio-vascular system.
@CrbjB8
Good observation about the climate change. Being in Vegas just for a couple of days when you're not used to the dry climate DOES effect your sinuses, your throat and you can feel it on your skin. Ms. Ingram is from an area with high humidity. The smoking may have been just a small part of her problems.
Illinois has no smoking casinos. State lost a lot of money when the casinos first went smoke-free. The legislature tried to overturn the law about the no smoking in casinos, but failed. The closest Illinois casino from where I live is ALWAYS crowded and I don't think it's because the machines are loose!! It's most likely because (a) it IS a no smoking casino and (b) it is very much like a Vegas casino (reminds me of the Rampart casino). But the Iowa casinos where smoking is permitted are always crowded, too, so go figure. I prefer one of the Iowa casinos not because of the smoking but I ALWAYS win when I go!!! A little side note about this particular casino. The casino corporation that owns it, Isle Corp., gave up the license and tried to find a buyer but no bites for the license so the City of Davenport, aka the tax payers, where the boat is located on the Mississippi, BOUGHT the casino and the license! They say it is the first time ever a City has bought a casino!! Allegedly, a land based casino is going to be built. And then it will never be the same!!!
"Hey kid...want some cool points?"
"huh?"
"Ya want to be cool, right? Have a smoke, dude!"
Hack, hack, cough...
"Yeah sure, it's tough at first, but you'll learn how."
Addictive, accepted and promoted in Las Vegas.
Thank you, Sheila. Even after Nevada voters insisted on restricting smokers, our "all-knowing" legislators take it upon themselves to "tweak" smoking restrictions rather than enforce the law. Guess they get it from the feds / O. administration, picking and choosing NOT to enforce our laws.
the MGM? Bah! Imagine if the author visited the Nevada Palace or the Western.
(those were the days!!! :)
I smoked for over 20 years but quit January 19th, 1997.
Best thing I ever did. But know that smokers don't know they stink...they can't smell it, it took 3 days of not smoking before I could smell it on someone else and it was shocking to me..very embarrassing to know that I had smelled like that for all those years.
However this post reminded me of how casinos smell in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Would love to visit Las Vegas but probably wont cause of the the smell.
And don't bring up that freedom to choose malarky. They can smoke all they want...just not in the building. Thats how it is here in Houston...LOVE IT!!
I've attended two separate week-long conferences in Las Vegas. Although the conference areas were smoke-free, I had to pass through smoky casinos to get from my hotel room to the events. Both times, I was sick by the time I went home, as were a number of my colleagues.
I have communicated about this with my professional organization, and until they change to a smoke-free venue, I will choose other options for my continuing education and networking. As great as the conference was, it's not worth sacrificing my health.
I think it is time for Las Vegas hotels and casinos to join the smoke free movement. Many hotel chains such as Marriott, Westin, and others have banned smoking in their hotels nationwide.
As to the belief that a casino would fail if there was a smoking ban, that is completely false. Some casinos in other cities have gone smoke free recently and are getting nothing but positive comments for it (Look at the comments in yelp.com for the Palace Casino in Biloxi, MS and the Revel Casino in Atlantic City). The Taos Mountain Casino in New Mexico has been smoke free since the mid-1990s and is doing very well. Even in Nevada, a couple of casinos in Laughlin including Harrahs Laughlin, Don Laughlin's Riverside, and others have non-smoking gaming areas. Even some of the Vegas Poker Rooms including the Bellagio are non-smoking.
The percentage of the population that are non-smokers is rising. The last time I checked, most of the state smoking rates are under 25 percent, and for many states the percentage of smokers is in the teens now. This means the majority of the public are non-smokers.
It is now time for Nevada to enact a casino smoking ban, or encourage the gambling companies to go smoke free voluntary. I would be willing to bet that with the right pro-active marketing strategies, they could lure a lot more non-smokers to Las Vegas to gamble.