Should Gambling And Smoking Be Lumped Together?

The smoking issue has been one that has been argued many times over the past fifty year. Gambling is an issue that has just become a popular debate in the past couple of years because of the massive casino expansion that is taking place in the US.

Opponents of smoking and gambling have used the same arguments in their attempts to attack both vices. Some proponents of gambling expansion, however, take offense to the idea that gambling presents the same health risks as smoking.

The gambling and smoking issues have been discussed a lot thanks to new bans that have been put into effect by over half of the states in the US. The casinos have been exempt from the smoking bans in many of these states, and it has anti-smokers upset.

"Just because they give a lot of revenue to the state should not mean that they get to make their own rules," said Beverly Watson, "But that is exactly what has happened in many states."

Alternatively, pro-gambling residents do not believe that the two issues should be intertwined. Many of these people are smokers, but they understand the health risks that smoking imposes on others.

"I am for the new casinos that are going up," said Ohio resident Barry Goldfarb, "I do not believe that gambling is as much of a threat as smoking. Even being a smoker I understand that my decisions put other people's lives in jeopardy."

Goldfarb went on to explain that gambling is an individual choice, and that gamblers can ruin the lives of themselves and their families, but rarely do their decisions impact other people surrounding them in a casino or on a lotto line.

While he is upset that he cannot freely smoke in public establishments, he acknowledges that at some point, state governments had to put their foot down.

"As a government, you can't just stand by and watch as smokers continually put others at risk. Gambling may be dangerous, but it is not killing millions of Americans every year-smoking is," said Goldfarb.

When asked if he would be adhering to smoking laws, Goldfarb paused, then said, "yes." He explained that he may be killing himself, but that he would not take others down with him, and with that he lit up a cigarette and walked away.

December 21, 2009
Posted By April Gardner
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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