Restaurants and Bars Struggling With Smoking Ban
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Updated: 8:45 AM Dec 9, 2007
Restaurants and Bars Struggling With Smoking Ban
Restaurants and Bars Struggling With Smoking Ban
Posted: 11:28 PM Dec 8, 2007
Reporter: Daniel Chanin
Email Address: daniel.chanin@kolotv.com
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Nevada's Clean Indoor Air Act has been a law for just a year, but it's already creating more than its share of controversey.

The law bans smoking in just about all public places that serve food, except for casinos. But smokers say it goes too far and restaurant and bar owners say it's ruining their business

"We do have some people coming in," says Parker Mills, bar manager at Famous Murphy's of Reno on South Virginia Street. "But it's not like it used to be."

Profits from the slot machines that used to rake in money from the bar have dropped 65 percent since Nevada voted to ban smoking in restaurants and bars with kitchens.

The slumping revenue is forcing mills to make some very costly changes.

"If people aren't coming into gamble, you have to raise the prices," says Mills. "And instead of having five dollar chicken wings, they're now 11 bucks."

A lot of non-smokers are saying that's too bad; and some, like former smoker Carol Mayberry want the act expanded even further.

"I think it's important for them to stay in their cars or house and away from public places."

Some bars are taking the controversial issue into their own hands. Rollin Lazzarone bought Scruples from Mills, six years ago. He's since transformed the compelx into two bars...one with smoking and one without it.

"Even some of our customers who go to the non-smoking bar want to have a glass of wine and maybe a cigarette after dinner," says Lazzarone. "At least they have that option."

Lazzerone says he's still seen a big economic impact on business, despite the remodeling. And Mills says the promise of an increase in non-smoking customers is a dream that simply hasn't come true.

"They haven't showed up in place of the smoking gamblers who disappeared."


Latest Comments

Posted by: Thomas Laprade Location: Thunder Bay, Ont. on Dec 10, 2007 at 10:35 PM

Smoke from tobacco is a statistically insignificant health risk. http://smokersclubinc.com
Posted by: Dan Location: Reno on Dec 10, 2007 at 04:58 AM

This is supposed to be the wild wild west where people have freedom, whatever happened to separate areas in a restaurant? Prohibition for alcohol did not work, laws are a good thing, but let us get real; some of us do choose vices just like billions of other people, let the nonsmokers and the smokers vote with their wallet.
Posted by: Dan Meyer Location: Reno on Dec 9, 2007 at 06:26 AM

I understand the whole non Smoker point of view. I do not smoke personally and I fully know and have discussed with my children the issues of smoking. But to have a law that is selevtive in nature, that allows the largest businesses to get a pass is wrong. There seems to be a coorilation between smoking and gambling. The numbers seem to prove that. The problem is that Nevada is a gambling state our economy and tax structure is based on it. Our whole economy is based on not being like california, and to have laws that have selective indignation is wrong. The responsibility of our laws and government is not to build monopolies. this law as writen has taken away any competitive ability for the small business operator to compete with the large casinos. this goes against all fairness in regulation policies that we as a nation hold so dear. I looked who was on the cancer charities and who donated to them a year ago, the Las Vegas CEO and CFO of these large casinos where all over the place.
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