Lori Huskey, Quit Coach, Service Delivery:

It was 6pm at the Las Vegas Luxor casino and my friends and I were seated at the hotel restaurant for dinner. A couple at the opposite table sat chatting idly and the man lit a cigarette with his Luxor Casino matches. Although the restaurants and lounges all spilled into the open air casino, a waiter came over and promptly told the man to put out his cigarette. As it turns out, there are non-smoking areas in Las Vegas casinos—who knew? But don’t get to excited just yet. Just because hotels ban smoking in non-casino areas doesn’t mean they’re aiming to prohibit smoking altogether. Why? It would just be too much of a gamble to lose the customers who have their cards in one hand and a cigarette in the other. In fact, Jeff Siri, who has even suffered from secondhand smoke agrees: “It would be an economic disaster if smoking were banned in Nevada casinos," he remarked. "When people are gambling, it is amazing how many of them smoke."

Just last month a former casino worker Cheryl Rose died of lung cancer. Rose was an avid supporter of the smoking ban and could be found protesting the law with signs that said “What happens in a casino stays in your lungs”  and hers is a story we hope will stay in the minds of Nevada state lawmakers.  On a more positive note, other states are taking steps forward. Louisiana has now banned smoking in bars and casinos despite its fear of “reducing customers at casinos” as they bill would “trigger layoffs and mean less tax revenue for the state.” Michigan has taken laudable steps to better the health of their state citizens as the 38th state that banned smoking in public places last Saturday.

When smoking is so distinctly linked to revenue, jobs, and attracting a large population that lights up it’s hard to know whether or not such a law will benefit the economy. The casino worker Cheryl Rose was described as a robustly fit woman who enjoyed the outdoors. It’s her decision to get outside and stay active just as a tobacco user decides to smoke a cigarette in their home. But when businesses fall into the picture they are the ones held accountable for the fate of others. Yes, that means losing customers if your business goes smoke free. But the bigger picture we’re looking at here isn’t just financial health but personal health and the pleasure adults feel from being mobile and active just might outweigh anything else.