Letter: Casinos bring in more customers by allowing smoking

Thursday, November 15, 2012  

"On a recent trip to Las Vegas I stopped at the Plaza to play for a while.

After a short time, a young lady came around carrying a tray with shoulder straps calling out "Cigars, Cigarettes!" While nostalgic, this is a thing of the future as casinos around the country are finding out that bans on cigarettes have greatly reduced revenues as much as 20 percent.

Casinos in Atlantic City have lifted smoking bans and in Illinois lawmakers are trying to bring back smoking to offset losses in jobs and tax money. And yes, even in Massachusetts, they are going to allow smoking in at least one casino (7 Cedars Casino) to start. Tribal casinos in California and Arizona continue to allow smoking."

Get the Story:
Shirley Muse: Smoking a win for casinos (The Mesquite Local News 11/14)

Another Opinion:
Linda Case: Banning Smoking Would Help Casinos Rebound (The Hartford Courant 11/15)