A glimmer of hope for non=smokers.

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Sea Lion
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Re: A glimmer of hope for non=smokers.

Post by Sea Lion »


All that 2nd hand smoke has definitely impacted your health. The good news is that you can reverse the damage and the threat to your lifespan by quitting either smoking or inhaling 2nd hand smoke permanently.
Walling off an area of a casino and calling it smoke-free is deceptive. Unless the smoke-free area has a totally separate HVAC system, you are still inhaling 2nd hand smoke.
It is a powerful testimony to the lobbying ability of casinos that they alone have frequently been exempted from smoking regs. Although the New Orleans Harrahs is not my first choice of playable machines, it is nice as a totally smoke-free casino. Same with the Palace on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
I am willing to give up a few points in order to gain a few years of my lifespan.That is what I was told when I quit smoking back in 1998. Just last year I got diagnosed with COPD.... 17 years later. I've dealt with some pretty bad crap throughout my life, and my attitude is that I will beat this too!

olds442jetaway
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Post by olds442jetaway »

Absolutely...WTG..

FAA
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Post by FAA »

What prompted the spirometry test, SL? Doctor's hunch? I think I will ask for one. Never smoked. But you can't be too careful.

Sea Lion
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Post by Sea Lion »

Went to Urgent Care after a week of trying to kick whatever was trying to keep me down and the initial diagnosis was acute bronchitis. They did chest x-rays and they came back "dirty" for COPD. I got a second opinion from my primary and it was confirmed. I always try to play in a non smoking area if possible, but like it was mentioned, that doesn't really do any good unless it is in a separate area with it's own HVAC system in place. The very first casino I saw that did this is the south side of the Riverside Resort in Laughlin, and it was like that 20 years ago. Now if they could only bump up their VP paytables...

FAA
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Post by FAA »

Terrible news. I don't know how I would cope. I have enough trouble getting my cholesterol below 200.


jocker
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Post by jocker »

With all we now know about the results of smoking and tobacco use, why do people still smoke? As far as casinos go, they should put all the smokers in their own separate room and let the rest of us have the run of the casino, smoke-free!!! My mother-in-law recently died of COPD.

OTABILL
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Post by OTABILL »

To follow-up, I wrote to the Arizona Gaming Guide regarding this issue. There follows the relevant parts of my email and their response:

"Why are Arizona casinos so insensitive to non-smokers when it comes to slots/video poker? My wife and I like video poker and after years of increasingly reducing our play because of the smoke, we have decided not to go anymore as the few casinos with smoke free areas have very few options and/or are not completely separate from the rest of the casino - thus the smoke drifts in. There seems to be no problem with smoke free rooms for bingo and poker. I guess they don’t want our patronage and others who abhor smoke. I’m sure we are not alone. "

The response:

" Thank you very much for taking the time to write us! I know that casinos aren’t intentionally trying to be insensitive to non-smokers, but they are a business and (like all businesses) have to do what’s best for their bottom line. Recently, a city-wide smoking ban forced Harrah’s New Orleans Casino to go completely smoke-free. Within three months they noticed that their revenues declined significantly (upwards of 30%)! Some patrons of that casino who smoke have chosen to drive longer distances to other casinos and racinos that allow smoking.

Several casinos in California voluntarily went smoke-free and are now back to allowing smoking because of the decline in business. In fact, Cocopah Casino in Yuma used to be entirely smoke-free on Sundays, but it too hurt their bottom line. I truly believe that casinos would prefer to go completely smoke-free if it wasn’t so damaging to their business. Most executives we’ve talked to at the top level are non-smokers who understand the health hazards, don’t want to have to subject their workers to such environments, and would prefer a cleaner casino (no ashes to deal with, cigarette burns, etc.) and fresher air. However, in doing so, they are risking losing their smoking customers (the largest percentage of their patrons) to another casino. It’s a risk many of them aren’t willing to take.

Having non-smoking sections is also very difficult for the casinos, because they tend to be smaller areas that can’t accommodate as many games. Therefore, patrons who don’t smoke tend to play in the smoking areas anyway. I would like to suggest to you and your wife to visit Yavapai Casino in Prescott, AZ if you haven’t already. Their non-smoking section is a large room that is completely isolated and even has its own entrance/exit, restrooms, and HVAC system! It’s truly the nicest and largest non-smoking area in the entire state!"

Prescott is a few hours from where we live,Yavapai Casino is quite small, and I don't have a clue as to their VP options, especially in the non-smoking room.

olds442jetaway
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Post by olds442jetaway »

     As most of us probably knew, money Trumps health just as it always has. Unless just about the entire country goes smoke free casino wise, I don't see many more casinos doing much more than they are doing now in the smoke free arena. Ct. has pretty much said the same thing. I wonder how the bottom line is doing in Canada where they are all smoke free. I know Canada relies quite heavily on revenue from gaming. One other tidbit many don't know about. In Canada, in most if not all provinces, you cannot smoke in a car with kids under 16 years of age in the car.    Edited to add...there is a good website called smokefreecasinos.org where you can get updated info on smoke free casinos and a lot of other good and interesting info.

jclem
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Post by jclem »

I've been to Harrahs' New Orleans a number of times since the ban. I venture to think Harrahs isn't as bad off as they like the public to think. They have set up a smoke
lounges just outside the building. If a patron really likes
the facility He will learn how to handle the smoking situation.

FAA
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Post by FAA »

Harrah's NO is hurting. 30% loss is heavy damage. Predictably, smokers voted with their feet and bid them adieu. I figured 20% tops, still bad.

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