Smoking bans affecting gambling revenue

While the rest of the world seems to be gaining more notoriety for their bans in terms of city-wide smoking laws, the gambling industry has been indelibly affected by these changes in the pocketbooks. What has happened is that since there was a HUGE ratio of smoker as compared to non-smokers that aren't going any more, that hasn't re-upped itself with bringing in more non-smokers who didn't come in the first place.

Of course, with the loss overall of the gambling industry, smoking cessation has soared, going up a staggering 40% in sales over the 1st quarter of this year. The irony of this is that all of the major lobbyists against smoking, including the American Lung Association and American Cancer Society, have been getting major fundage from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that has direct ties to Johnson and Johnson, who is the major seller of smoking cessation products. Interesting, eh? While gambling usually takes heat for this assumed type of racketeering and what not, apparently that's not an issue here.

I am a smoker, and I haven't had an issue with going to a casino and not being able to smoke--yet. I have always thought that what should happen is like the one I have been to in Illinois, where there are specific floors that are non-smoking. But, of course, all of the things against second hand smoke results, even though air quality testing by organizations like the American Cancer Society, Johns Hopkins, a Minnesota Environmental Health Department, British Medical Journal published contributors prove that secondhand smoke levels are 15 - 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA permissible exposure limits (PEL). Whatever. You're always going to have points on each side, but if I am not allowed to smoke, I'll live...probably longer...:P

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