Nevada Lawmakers Selling Out On Smoking Ban At Gambling Sites

Lawmakers in the state of Nevada passed the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act to ensure that residents would breathe easy when they went to public locations. It was a win for anti-smoking advocates that look out for the health of employees and patrons of these establishments.

Now, less than two years after that law went into effect, lawmakers are preparing to change the rules. The economy has become bad enough that revenue will now come before health in the state of Nevada.

The Nevada Senate voted 16-5 on Friday in favor of a Bill that would ease the statewide smoking ban. Taverns and bars in the state run video gambling machines, and they say their business has been down around twenty percent since the ban went into effect.

Ironically, the economy throughout the entire country began to fall off around the same time that the smoking ban took effect. Some believe the smoking ban is simply being blamed, and is not the reason for the business drop off.

"The bottom line in Nevada is their entire state runs on money generated from gambling," said observer Larry Humber, "When the economy crashed, Nevada lawmakers had to find a way to get people back into the gambling establishments, and they have determined that easing the smoking ban was a way to do that."

Casinos have actually been the beneficiary of the smoking ban. While local taverns and bars had to stop smoking in their establishments, casino floors were afforded an exception to the smoking ban.

April 19, 2009
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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