I’m a smoker, and when I walk into a casino I can’t stand it. I don’t know what it is , maybe their ventilating system, or the concentration of smokers in one building. I live in Canada province of Ontario, all of the casinos are smoke free. It has hurt the overall business, especially in the bars. But eventually true die hard gamblers do come back and accept it. Strange coming from a smoker, but I do enjoy gambling in a smoke free environment, and if I get the urge for a cigarette, I just step out into the patio for one.

I prefer it smoke free as well but if the Casinos ban smoking, maybe they will lose some players as well because they can’t smoke anymore.

The smoking ban comes into play soon, how is this going to affect you and your staff. Do you think it is right that this ban has been brought into the work place, or do you think there could have been another solution.

After reading a lot of newspapers about this and forums, people have said they would prefer to leave their job rather than not being able to smoke,

Does this ban not come under the Human Rights law? I am not a smoker so I do not have a problem of not being able to smoke but I do feel for the people within the work place who have to go through the day without having a cig.

From my point of view, I am a poker player and non-smoker, a smoke ban is a great thing, I am happy that I can now play in a smoke-free environment. It’s always a trade-off - you have to find a compromise between giving the smokers the freedom to have a cig and taking care of the health of non-smokers. I think the health issue is the main thing, smokers are endangering the health of other people and not only their own, so it’s okay that smoking is not allowed in certain public places. That’s just my opinion ...

The way smoking bans were implemented in my state it was pretty obvious, and later all but explicitly confirmed by one of the legislation’s sponsors, that the main intent of the ban was control.  “I want to be able to go where I please and tell you that you cannot smoke there.”  Yes, there is definitely a health issue, and that is what the laws purported to and did address, but I contend it was not the driving issue.

IMHO whether to permit smoking or not is a business decision.  If I as a business owner want to cater to smokers I should be allowed to do so.  Non-smokers offended by smoke can take their business elsewhere, and vice-versa.  The exceptions I would make are places offering something unique, for example, an airport or train station or bus station.  If one wants to travel by air, train, or bus there are no viable alternatives: one must go to the place where such transportation is obtained.