It’s not about casinos or the smokers — ban is about health

Beginning New Year’s Day, a smoking ban will curtail Colorado casino profits somewhat as smoking gamblers are forced to take a break from the action when they light up.

It’s understandable that casino owners are concerned about their profits. But the smoking ban isn’t about them. Don’t fret about the casinos. The odds are always in their favor.

Smoking gamblers: It isn’t about you, either. Smoking is like drawing to an inside straight. It’s not a very smart risk.

Some misguided smokers have suggested that there is such a thing as “smokers’ rights.” You just can’t find it anywhere in the U.S. or Colorado constitutions. On the flip side, an emerging body of law, largely sparked by the environmental movement, says you don’t have a right to make someone else sick via secondhand smoke.

Beginning Tuesday, a Cripple Creek casino barmaid has the same right to a healthy workplace as the barmaids who have worked in smokeless environments statewide since July 1, 2006.

“It is totally a workplace health issue,” said Stephanie Steinberg of Smoke-Free Gaming.

She’s right.

But providing a healthier environment has come as a bitter pill for casino operators.

“We will abide by the law,” said Eric Rose, general manager for the Colorado Grande Casino in Cripple Creek. “We’ll remove all the ashtrays, and no smoking will be allowed.”

Steinberg will be in Cripple Creek on Tuesday to make sure the casinos toe the line.

Rose estimated 60 percent of gamblers smoke, and when they go outside to do it, it will cost him money.

“We’re looking at a 15-to-20 percent decline. We won’t know until March,” he said.

A November 2006 study released by the University of Nevada-Reno contradicted industry estimates of the percentage of gamblers who smoke.

The conclusions: “The percentages of gamblers who smoke are very similar to the overall percentage of the U.S. population that smokes (20.9 percent). The percentage of gamblers who smoke at the small rural casinos is higher, at around 36.5 percent . . . far below the 70 percent that the gaming industry has claimed.”

Mountain casinos in Cripple Creek (at 9,494 feet), Black Hawk and Central City suffer in a harsh winter. Any analysis of first-quarter casino profits would have to include a look at the weather.

The plain truth: The political pendulum has swung against smoking and gambling. Colorado voters have repeatedly rejected attempts to expand casino gambling to include airports and

Manitou Springs.

It’s obvious most Coloradans favor extending the smoking ban to all public places. A ballot measure increasing the cigarette tax in 2004 passed by a 2-1 margin.

The Prohibition era demonstrated that we can’t make cigarettes illegal, even though they are deadly. So society is imposing high cigarette taxes and chasing cigarettes from as many public venues as possible.

Contact Barry Noreen at 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com. He appears every other Friday on KOAA’s Comcast Channel 9 at 4 p.m.