n/s N.O.

[notes1]

i am a huge believer in smaller, less expensive, more effective government, with less regulation/laws/rules. my past posts clearly reflect that opinion. personal responsibility and the government providing a helping hand, instead of a handout, have long been my belief. with that said, i have no problem, i even endorse any community, where the majority want a certain law put into effect. some folks do not want to live in a neighborhood where others park their mobile home on the front lawn. having rules and restrictions, protect the will of the majority. the problem is the average member of the electorate is uninformed, in some cases, just plain stupid. they cannot understand that every action, causes a reaction. i wonder if those who were in favor of the NO smoking change would have endorsed such a measure, if they were aware it might cause job losses, potential reduced casino payouts, lost tax revenues that will need to be made up somewhere else and maybe, even reduced tourism.  decades ago and i remember it well, there was a rally cry around the globe to increase the financial status of public employees. everyone seemed to agree, but no one paid any attention to the wage, pension and benefit increases that were being promised. and, when voices began to warn about impending doom, those voices were written off or worse, they were labeled as uncaring or evil. now, look where we are. many pubic employees retired in their fifties, with great benefits, while some private sector folks, are often looking forward to working until they are 70.    some ideas sound great on paper, but become less attractive, when the results take effect.

[OTABILL]

[QUOTE=DougJ] [QUOTE=notes1.        . . ask someone to read it to you (quote)

Tsk tsk.

Personal attacks generally arise when a person is unable to state the facts and has lost the battle . . .

Done here.

And you also gave false facts in an earlier post. How cool is that???

Missouri is NOT the top smoking state in the nation!!!
Edit: Notes1 beat me to this.

Most recent survey I can find.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/167771/smoki ... tucky.aspx

The URL address even tells you the answer.

Fwiw, I'm also a non-smoker and would love Missouri and other states to ban smoking everywhere, but I'd much rather gamble in a St. Louis casino vs. the Queen or the Belle! And the monthly revenue reports back me up on this!!![/QUOTE]

I have seen articles claiming a number of states having the most smokers per capita. In most cases, the differences are not that significant. However, if someone wants to get the official breakdown by multiple categories, here is the CDC analysis as of 2013. In the 2 years since, changes in rankings could easily have occurred.



Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adults in the United States

[Vman96]

Yeah, I couldn't find any data from this year at all. But I'm pretty confident Missouri is not #1. Just solidly in the top 10...meh. We ate at a smokefree Applebee's tonight. It was an owner's decision to be smoke free. Our city still allows smoking in restaurants.   

And thank you rascal for the very detailed explanation on why this smoking ban is really hurting Harrah's New Orleans.

I wonder what is the casino revenue typically is between smoking/non-smoking patrons. Has to be much closer to 50/50 than most other things.

[spxChrome]

[QUOTE=Tedlark] notes even with the ban on smoking indoors in public places I don't think cigarette tax revenue has taken too big a hit. What has hurt more are the smokers now buying cigarettes in states neighboring Illinois.

  
 ted, my comments had nothing to do with the tobacco tax in any state, i have no idea. i was simply noting that LA was likely to lose tax revenue from gambling to MISS. for those who want to smoke, they will just make the drive to biloxi. no different if one area eliminated drinking and a another area close by offered booze, guess who will lose business. this sounds like what is happening in your state, as many drive elsewhere to get their smoking fix. [/QUOTE]

They just raise taxes on cig and booze to make up for it. While I was down there a couple of weeks ago the guy was telling me that cigs taxes where going up .65 the next day.

[notes1]

according to CASINO CITY TIMES, most recent monthly report has CET NEW ORLEANS gaming revenue down 30%. that is a lot to make up in a difficult gaming market and slow economy. no idea if layoffs have happened, but likely will occur if things do not improve.
  an interesting side story. a slot player won over $600k at PALACE casino in biloxi. when asked why he plays at that casino, he stated, 'it is smoke free'.