Poker Poker Poker!: [vpFREE] Re: Smoking Bans - WAS Jean Scott's Frugal Vegas BLOG

> 2a. Re: Jean Scott's Frugal Vegas BLOG - 13 JAN 2008
> Posted by: "mickeycrimm" mickeycrimm@yahoo.com mickeycrimm
> Date: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:04 am ((PST))
>
...

> But the business never comes back to the level it was. For small
> business owners it's the difference between going through 20 kegs of
> beer a week and only going through 10 kegs a week. A smoker is just
> not going to sit in a bar if he can't smoke. The non-smokers just do
> not flood in to take the places of the smokers.
>
> If it is a casino the gambler is going to spend as much time outside
> puffing away as he spends inside.
>

There is some truth in the above, but it is by no means as absolute as suggested.

First of all, there appears to be an implied assumption that "small business owner" means "small bar owner", and there ARE other small businesses that have no problem with no smoking and it doesn't hurt their business.

I don't know very much about bars, but the poker rooms in Indiana riverboat casinos are all smoke-free, and I frequent them often. I see the smokers leave the tables to have a cigarette, going to the nearest non-smoking area (on many boats, it's a door to the outside, and they'll go no matter what the weather; at Caesar's Indiana, it's OK to smoke immediately outside the poker room and I see railbirds immediately outside the poker room, two feet from the no smoking sign, having a cigarette). At least at the places I frequent, they aren't gone that long, probably less than 5% of the time -- at places where the whole facility is smoke-free, especially if they're large, it may take longer to get to a smoking area and back, but I doubt that the non-gambling time would equal the gambling time.

I see many players who are not smokers, but who spend long days at the tables, take longer and more frequent breaks than smokers. And I see many players, both smokers and non-smokers, who try to miss as few hands as possible.

Most smokers, if they ever fly an airplane, have learned to go a few hours without a cig if they have to (I know they don't like it, but most of them manage, and while there are plenty of reasons today to drive, if possible, rather than fly, I haven't heard "no smoking on the plane" listed as a common reason for making that choice). Depending on how driven they are to smoke, and how driven they are to gamble, individuals WILL decide which one has priority at any given moment in time, and while they might prefer to do both at once, when that's not an option, not very many will choose to give up one or the other completely. They'll strike some balance.

Certainly drinkers can find somewhere other than a bar to drink AND have a cigarette (and I've never understood the fascination with paying so much extra for booze in order to drink in a bar, instead of just going to a liquor store and taking it home -- so the bar must have SOME other feature that makes it worth going there to drink).

Can a smoking ban hurt casino business? Sure. Can it help casino business? Less likely, but it certainly causes SOME counterbalance - I have spoken to many poker players who used to only play in "private" games at individual homes, strictly because of the smoking in casinos, who now play regularly in casinos, and when there is a choice between smoking and non-smoking poker rooms, most smokers and many non-smokers use that as their criteria for where to play.

Personally, I try to avoid sitting next to smokers when playing VP, if possible, and if not, ask them if they would mind putting their cig and ashtray on the opposite side from me - not asking them to stop, but just to be courteous - and most are. I still choose games based on all aspects of the game, adequate paytable being number one, and comfort, which includes whether it's a bar top, slant top, upright, or other choice and how the chair fits, etc., is also a factor, into which I include exposure to smoke.

For both smokers and non-smokers, it's usually a matter of striking a balance between the environment they would prefer and the activities they'd like to participate in. At the extremes, smoking will cause some people to altogether avoid a facility that doesn't match their preference, but only at the extremes.

--BG

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