Antis: What to expectThe Cold Sharp Slap Of Reality

Read Newest Articles:? NV Reality of smoking ban sets in Page 2

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Report: Some Jobs Down After Voters OK Smoking Ban, Wage Increase

May 15, 2007
A new report shows a big jump in jobless insurance claims by Nevada food service workers following voter approval in November of a higher minimum wage and a smoking ban in bars and restaurants and other locations.

Terry Johnson, director of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, said Monday that unemployment insurance claims from food preparation workers and food serves jumped 51 percent in the first quarter of 2007, compared with the same period a year earlier.

Johnson added that growth in full-service restaurants also is down from an average annual gain of 8.9 percent over the 2003-2006 period to 6.7 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Also, an “other gaming” job category, which includes slot-route workers, showed a 2.9 percent decline in the first quarter of the year, compared with average annual growth of 1.3 percent between 2003 and 2006.

“This information represents the first available evidence concerning the labor market impacts of Questions 5 and 6,” Johnson said. “It appears that due to the smoking ban, some establishments are choosing gaming over food service, leaving kitchen workers unemployed.”

Question 5, the Clean Indoor Air Act approved in November by voters, prohibits smoking in bars and restaurants, in slot machine sections of grocery and convenience stores, and at video arcades, shopping malls, schools and day-care centers. The law still allows smoking on gambling floors of casinos.

Question 6, also approved in November, raised Nevada’s minimum wage by $1 to $6.15 an hour for employers who don’t offer a qualified health insurance plan to their minimum-wage workers.

Under a two-tiered system, employers who offer a qualified health insurance plan can continue to pay $5.15 an hour, whether or not employees take the health plan.

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Smoking ban hard on Herbst
Gambling company says earnings decline

May. 10, 2007
By HOWARD STUTZ, REVIEW-JOURNAL

Tougher new laws outlawing smoking in grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants and taverns are squeezing earnings for Herbst Gaming, which operates 7,200 slot machines in those locations, the company said Wednesday.

Herbst Gaming, one of Nevada’s largest slot route operators with some 650 statewide locations, reported a net loss of $3.9 million for the first quarter wended March 31. A year ago, the gaming company reported net income of $17.2 million.

Herbst Gaming, which is privately held by the Herbst family, files quarterly earnings reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission because it has publicly owned debt. Slot route operators manage games in noncasino locations and share in the revenues with the business owners.

The company, which also operates 16 casinos in Nevada, Missouri and Iowa, said its net revenues were $150.4 million in the quarter, a 4 percent increase compared with $144.9 million a year ago. The jump was largely due to the addition of four Northern Nevada casinos that Herbst purchased in January for $119 million.

However, the company’s cash flow, described as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was $23.5 million, a decrease of 33 percent compared with $35 million a year ago.

In its slot route operations, Herbst said net revenues were $74.7 million, a 17.8 percent decline compared with $90.9 million a year ago. The loss, company leaders said, was directly attributed to the smoking ban, approved by voters last November.

Herbst Gaming President Ed Herbst said during a morning conference call to discuss the earnings that grocery and convenience stores immediately banned smoking in December. Taverns, restaurants and other locations where food is served didn’t eliminate smoking until January, after the state court system rejected several attempts to throw out the ban.

Ed Herbst said the company would undertake some cost-saving efforts in its slot route operations in order to recoup some of its losses. Most of the measures will center on renegotiating some of the slot machine management contracts Herbst Gaming has with various businesses where it operates the slot machines.

Herbst Gaming Chief Financial Officer Mary Beth Higgins told investors and analysts the company expects its slot route revenues to rebound during the year as taverns and bar customers become acclimated to the new smoking regulations. However it may take time for revenues to return to historic levels.

“The revenue hits were most profound in January, when the bars began adopting the new smoking ban,” Higgins said. “The first quarter was probably going to be our most difficult. As people start getting used to the idea of stepping outside to smoke and then stepping back in, we think our customers will return without much intervention from us.”

She said Herbst Gaming will look at rewording contracts; most have triggers for renegotiation based on total revenues. Also, the company expects to expand into new slot route locations this year, which will add to the revenue stream.

“We’re going to handle this carefully with a long-term focus,” Higgins said. “We’re not going to have a knee jerk reaction.”

Meanwhile, the company’s four new Northern Nevada casinos helped boost overall revenues. Herbst’s Nevada casino operations reported $43.9 million in revenues for the quarter, compared with $24.5 million a year ago. Higgins said the new casinos, including the Sands Regency in Reno, were responsible for about $18.5 million of the revenue increase.

Ferenc Szony, who remained in charge of the Northern Nevada casinos for Herbst, said renovations and expansions are almost finished at the four resorts. Two have been branded with the Terrible Herbst name.

“This was a very easy consolidation and a smooth transition,” Szony said. “We are focused on growing the brand in Northern Nevada and creating a strong presence in the market.”

In Southern Nevada, Herbst operates Terrible’s on East Flamingo Road and four smaller casinos; one each in Henderson and Searchlight and two in Pahrump. Higgins said the company had disruptions at its Pahrump casino during February while a new slot machine management system was added.

In April, Herbst Gaming closed a $400 million acquisition of the three Primm casinos from MGM Mirage. Results from those casinos are not included in the first-quarter earnings.

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Vegas bar draws lawsuit over smoking

05/01/07
By KEN RITTER – Associated Press Writer?

LAS VEGAS — A tavern owner who refused to remove ash trays was sued Monday by health officials under Nevada’s voter-approved smoking ban.

‘‘Most businesses are complying,’’ Southern Nevada Health District lawyer Stephen Minagil said as he blamed the corporate owner of Bilbo’s Bar and Grill for not abiding by the smoking ban that was approved by voters in November and upheld by a judge in January.

‘‘This is really the recalcitrant business owner who says, ‘No, I won’t,’’’ Minagil said.

Minagil said the district wants a Clark County District Court judge to fine Bilbo’s owner, Three B’s Inc., at least $200 — or $100 for each of two smokers observed smoking in the bar April 12. The health district also asks that the business be ordered to comply with the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, which prohibits smoking in nearly all public places, including restaurants and bars that serve food. Casino floors are exempt.

Lawyer Robert Peccole, representing Three B’s and Bilbo’s, welcomed the chance to challenge what he called a confusing, vague and unconstitutionally flawed law — as well as the chance to tell the government to keep its nose out of the bar business.

He said the neighborhood tavern about eight miles west of the Las Vegas strip posted ‘‘no smoking’’ signs but balked at removing ash trays.

‘‘The ash trays were left out so we could get a court test,’’ Peccole told The Associated Press. ‘‘I’m born and raised here. I don’t like that someone can come in and tell you how to operate your business — who can smoke, and who can’t smoke.’’

Peccole said the ash trays bear advertising and represent a protected form of commercial speech. He called the order to remove them a violation of Bilbo’s First Amendment rights.

The lawsuit alleging ‘‘willful disobedience’’ is the first legal action initiated by the district to enforce the ban. No citations have been issued, officials said.

In March, a retail tobacco shop in the Caesars Palace Forum Shops won an injunction to allow smoking on its patio outside the store. Casa Fuente’s parent company, South Street LLC, had sued the health district in February to stop the district from citing the shop in the indoor mall.

Las Vegas-area bar owners have appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court to overturn a judge’s January ruling allowing the enforcement of civil penalties for violations of the measure. The judge threw out criminal penalties.

The Nevada Tavern Owners’ Association has until October to file legal arguments against the measure.

After a campaign to educate smokers and businesses about the ban, Las Vegas and Reno-area health officials said last week that they intended to begin issuing citations for violations.

On Monday, Washoe Health District spokeswoman Tracie Douglas said no lawsuits had been filed in the Reno area, and officials were pleased with compliance.

‘‘We only have a couple of people we’re dealing with,’’ she said.

The Southern Nevada Health District has fielded more than 2,000 complaints about 590 businesses during the past five months in the Las Vegas area, spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.

The health district, which regulates 16,000 businesses, recently sent letters to eight businesses seeking compliance, Minagil said. Only Bilbo’s was sued.

An initial court hearing was set for June 6.

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Opinion – Your Voice on 3
Smoking Ban

April 10, 2007?
Non-smoking casinos??? Having just listened to the noon news and the story on non-smoking casinos, what on earth are these people thinking??
Las Vegas has never been known as a “clean” town. Tourists come here to “let down their hair” in all that implys.
I’ve seen LV grow from just a few casinos to what it is today with crazy amounts of money being invested to build even more. The formula has always worked. And the Smoking Ban has already hurt our community drastically.
Now someone wants to impose the ban in the casinos? Don’t they know what a risk they are suggesting? YOU don’t take a successful money making enterprise and expect the same return on your money if you change it’s components. That is foolishness!
Who among us can afford any more tampering with our greatest, most profitable industry?
Who among us can afford to lose our jobs or our incomes over this smoking ban and its expansion? I know I can’t. I’ve just taken a second job to suppliment my income from the gaming industry.
I should have been a hooker. There is no ban in brothels!

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Slot-route operations down – Herbst revenues dip after ban on smoking

March 9, 2007
ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY?
While many business and slot operators have cried foul over the new smoking ban, many have been reluctant to reveal how the new law is affecting their bottom line.

Comments made Thursday, however, during one of the state’s largest slot route operator’s year-end earnings conference call could be an ominous indicator of what kind of downturn in revenue small gaming operations are experiencing.

Herbst Gaming officials Thursday said that while the Clean Indoor Act “slightly impacted” its slot route operations in December, early numbers for the new year are dramatically lower.

“The impact has become more significant in 2007,” said Chief Financial Officer Mary Beth Higgins during the conference call. “Although we only have a few weeks’ results for 2007, the revenues appear to be declining in a range of 15 to 20 percent.”

The new law, approved as Question 5 on the Nov. 7 ballot by a vote of 54 percent to 46 percent, banned smoking in most public areas, including bars that serve meals and slot machine sections of convenience stores and groceries.

Herbst Gaming operates approximately 8,400 machines in noncasino locations in Nevada affected by the ordinance.

The company also operated five casinos in Nevada with two more in Missouri and one in Iowa during the reporting period ending Dec. 31. The company could own as many as 15 by the end of 2007 through acquisitions that are awaiting approval by gaming regulators.

Ferenc Szony, president of the newly acquired Reno-based Sands Regent company, warned analysts against “trying to nail down the impact” of the new smoking ordinance too soon.

“There is going to be kind of a (shake-out) of how this is going to come out,” said Szony, encouraging analysts to wait a couple of months before gauging the impact.

Revenue from slot route operations accounted for 58 percent of the company’s total revenues in 2006, down from 61 percent in 2005.

The new smoking rules were originally scheduled to take effect on Dec. 8, but court battles delayed implementation in Clark County until later in December.

“The year will present some challenges to the company as we absorb the impact on our slot operation due to the smoking-ban initiative,” said Herbst Gaming President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Herbst.

Herbst Gaming posted total net revenues of $562 million, a 5 percent increase, in 2006 from combined operations.

Slot route revenues rose 2.5 percent to $347 million for the year.

Company cash flow, defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, declined 4.5 percent to $119.3 million in 2006 from $124.9 million a year earlier.

Costs and expenses outpaced revenue growth, increasing 7 percent, which led to a net income decline 17.1 percent to $42.1 million from $50.8 million

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Gee, no one ever considers “enforcement”…..duh!? This definitely applies to smoking bans everywhere.? Read Thomas Laprade’s comments below also.?
?
In addition, It has already been ruled by a Florida Court that hospitality owners/employees are not responsible for enforcement of smoking bans (see references below).

January 3, 2005

“JUDGE CONCURS
Administrative Judge Michael Parrish agreed. His Sept. 24 opinion notes that there is no legal requirement for a bar owner to take ”specific action” when someone is smoking in the bar. The judge also ruled that the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation is authorized to fine a ”person” under the law, but not a business.”
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Case No.:? 03-004681?
Judge:? M. M. PARRISH
?
Petitioner:? DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, DIVISION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND TOBACCO,
? vs.
Respondent:? OLD CUTLER OYSTER CO., INC., D/B/A OLD CUTLER OYSTER CO.
?
Date Filed:? 12/11/2003
Date Assigned:? 12/11/2003
Last Docket Entry:? 01/19/2005?
Location:?? Miami, FL
District:?? Southern?
Agency:?? Department of Business and Professional Regulation
Division:?? Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco
?
Agency Case No.:? 2003-071145
Agency Action:? ADOPTED IN TOTO
? Agency Final Order on 01/12/2005.
???
Status:? Closed
Recommended Order on Friday, September 24, 2004.
?
Summary:? There is no clear statutory duty for the proprietor of an enclosed indoor workplace to take any specific action when patrons are seen smoking in such workplace.
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Defiance: FL Bar Owners Win Suits On Flawed Ban
April 12 @ 2006
Not only was the fine dropped, but the state ended up shelling out $17,500 to cover the restaurant owners’ legal fees.

Smoking ban tweak filters ambiguities
April 11, 2006
Andrew Marra
TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s Clean Indoor Air Act was supposed to make it a cinch to snuff out smoking inside restaurants……
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Garnet Dawn – The Smoker’s Club, Inc. – Midwest Regional Director
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter – http://www.smokersclubinc.com
Illinois Smokers Rights – http://www.illinoissmokersrights.com/
mailto:garnetdawn@comcast.net – Respect Freedom of Choice!
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No smoking, wink, wink
By ED KOCH
March 01, 2007

Two men sitting at the bar at Screwballs sports bar and restaurant one afternoon this week and berated the anti-smoking law passed by voters in November.

And then they took deep drags on their cigarettes.

One man, a nearly 300-pound big-time slot player, blamed transplants from clean-air California for the law that bans smoking in restaurants, bars that serve food and convenience stores, among other public places.

After another puff, he dug into a steaming plate of beef stroganoff.

As a rule, smoking and stroganoff aren’t supposed to go together in the new, anti-smoking world of Las Vegas taverns. So what gives?

Screwballs owner George Gatchis, a Southern Nevada resident for 11 years and a nonsmoker, said he and his workers are observing the law.

“We have done everything the (Southern Nevada) Health District has asked of us,” Gatchis said. “We have put up no-smoking signs. We’ve removed all ashtrays from the place. And we tell customers if a Health District inspector comes in, he will cite them.” But he is not going to pull the cigarette from their mouths and he can only wonder where the ashes and butts will wind up _ maybe on the floor, in a glass of water or perhaps alongside the noodles.

And so it goes: Bar and tavern operators are claiming to live by the letter of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act _ while allowing customers to eat and puff away in violation of the new law.

Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore says restaurant operators are not meeting the spirit of the law if they simply post no-smoking signs, remove ashtrays then turn a blind eye to smokers.

“They (business owners) have a greater responsibility,” she said. “They can refuse to serve them (customers who break the law).”

Sizemore said more than 1,300 complaints of violations of the anti-smoking law have been made to her agency. A person caught smoking in places that serve cooked food can be fined $100 as can bar operators who refuse to enforce the law. No one has been cited yet as health officials grapple with how to effectively enforce the law.

The Health District is holding hearings to address that issue and to determine whether it can impose a $600 administrative fee on smoking-ban violators, on top of the fine.

Sizemore said the law designates health inspectors as the enforcers of the law, but noted that they are scientists and biologists, not cops. They will have to be trained in how to properly issue citations, she said.

She also concurred with what bar operators say _ that the law does not require businesses to call the Health District to tattle on customers who smoke, and does not require bar employees to get physical with rule-breaking customers and remove them by force.

Local restaurateurs say they do not want to take any action that will cost them customers.

Gatchis said his dinner business dropped by half and slot revenue fell $4,000 to $5,000 a week since the anti-smoking law went into effect on Dec. 8. Gatchis says he has laid off two employees and, if he were to close his restaurant, 19 more would hit the unemployment line.

Screwballs is hardly alone in indulging smoking gamblers while still offering food.

Across town at Chilly Palmer’s, a woman was smoking at the bar while playing slots. And bartenders at the Tap House and at the Kopper Keg restaurant both offered a Sun reporter ashtrays when he asked if he could smoke _ after first announcing that theirs were nonsmoking establishments.

“We are having a hard time with this (law) when someone outright refuses to comply,” said Dodd Martin, general manager of the Tap House, adding that an ashtray is offered if the bartender believes a patron will smoke anyway and flick ashes all over the place.

“We are probably going to have to start refusing to serve people who light up, but we don’t want to run off all of our business,” Martin said. For now, he said, slot business is down 20 percent.

Major casinos are exempt from the law, as are some bars that have unrestricted gaming licenses and bars that either do not have food or have done away with food service in favor of allowing smoking.

(Contact Ed Koch at koch(at)lasvegassun.com.)

It is a sad day when
Submitted by Chris (not verified) on Fri, 03/02/2007 – 05:05.
It is a sad day when legislators are so easily affected by so much lobbying from so few.
Do they believe everything the hoards of anti-smoking groups tell them? Do they realize the scale of the organization that encourages lobbying from around the world? Do they realize now much money is provided to support these groups? Do they realize how much money pharmaceutical companies make from smoking bans? Do these people really want to use these bars and restaurants? Do they care if legislation causes social damage?
I can’t believe that legislators are ignorant.
Good government requires few laws but those based on flawed, exaggerated, cherry-picked science, obscenely biased and emotive propaganda and threats has no place in any democracy.
A study of smoking rates and cancer deaths ( http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,389990,00.jpg )quickly shows the blinkered pressure of smoke hating groups is diverting attention from the many other causes behind rising cancer deaths.
Non-smokers are not ignorant, they can avoid smoke by avoiding smoke-friendly places. Smokers are not ignorant, they can avoid smoke- free places.
Anti-smokers have all their so-called facts but show ignorance of their interpretation.
Smoking bans seldom reduce smoking rates – Look at Ireland and Scotland – Education and encouragement do.
Smoking bans drive smoking into the home where the alleged damage will cause much more harm.
Smoking bans divide communities and create an under-class.
Smoking bans devastate communities and destroy charitable efforts.
Smoking bans remove simple lifestyle choices from smokers and tolerant non-smokers when venues close.
Smoking bans isolate people from established social groups.
Smoking bans make holier-than-thou groups masters of the democracy.

The alleged damage from ETS is far, far less than the social and environmental damage they cause but we should be pleased that clothes don’t smell of smoke!

An alternative to smoking bans
Submitted by Thomas Lapradeon Fri, 03/02/2007 – 03:08.

If the public was honestly and truthfully informed about the effects of second-hand smoke, there would be fewer no-smoking laws in this country.

A little smoke from a handful of crushed leaves and some paper that is mixed with the air of a decently ventilated venue is going to harm or kill you?

There has never been a single study showing that exposure to the low levels of smoke found in bars and restaurants with decent modern ventilation and filtration systems kills or harms anyone.

As to the annoyance of smoking, a compromise between smokers and non-smokers can be reached, through setting a quality standard and the use of modern ventilation technology.

Air ventilation can easily create a comfortable environment that removes not just passive smoke, but also and especially the potentially serious contaminants that are independent from smoking.

Government power the real health hazard
Submitted by Thomas Laprade? on Fri, 03/02/2007 – 03:05.
The bandwagon of local smoking bans now steamrolling across the nation has nothing to do with protecting people from the supposed threat of “second-hand” smoke. Indeed, the bans are symptoms of a far more grievous threat, a cancer that has been spreading for decades and is the only real hazard involved – the cancer of unlimited government power. The issue is not whether second-hand smoke is a real danger or a phantom menace, as a study published recently in the British Medical Journal indicates. The issue is: if it were harmful, what would be the proper reaction? Should anti-tobacco activists satisfy themselves with educating people about the potential danger and allowing them to make their own decisions, or should they seize the power of government and force people to make the “right” decision? Loudly billed as measures that only affect “public places,” they have actually targeted private places: restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, – whose customers are free to go elsewhere.

All decisions involve risks; some have harmful consequences; most are controversial and invite disapproval from the neighbours. But the individual must be free to make these decisions. Yet when it comes to smoking, this freedom is under attack. Smokers are a minority, practising a habit considered annoying and unpleasant to the majority. So the majority has simply commandeered the power of government and used it to dictate their behaviour.

Thomas Laprade
480 Rupert St.
Thunder Bay, Ont.

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Health District Follows Up On Smoking Ban Complaints

Feb 1, 2007
Edward Lawrence, Reporter

The Southern Nevada Health District is out looking for businesses violating the anti-smoking law, and Channel 8 Eyewitness News had the only crew there.

Health inspectors are following up on complaints from the public. Thursday afternoon, health inspectors dropped in on the Outside Inn. The health district received complaints about people smoking inside.

With food and alcohol, the business must comply with the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act.

Armed with informational packets and public complaints health inspectors wanted to make sure the Outside Inn followed the anti-smoking law.

Health inspector Steve Goode said, “We will have those operators sign for something saying, Yes, I acknowledge that I received it and we will do out best to comply.”

The business already received the health district’s guidelines through the mail. This trip was a friendly reminder for Outside Inn’s manager, Scooter Johnson.

“If someone chooses to light up a cigarette we will tell them this is a non-smoking establishment. We have signs up that says we are a non-smoking establishment,” Johnson said.

It turned out the business did follow the law. Signs were visible and there wasn’t an ashtray in sight.

Scooter Johnson says it’s tough to watch everyone all the time. The business even built a smoking section just outside the back door.

Since the Outside Inn met their responsibilities, the smoker would get the $100 ticket.

“If someone lights up, that is their risk. The health department can come in and give them a fine. That is on them,” Johnson added.

With the health district watching complaints closely, inspectors made the decision to warn first and then issue tickets.

Steve Goode explained, “This time, right now, all we are doing is passing out information. Certainly the public can continue calling in and making their complaints. We are looking into every complaint we receive.”

With 500 complaints in the past week Goode’s team has been busier than usual. Click here for the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act complaint form.

Again, the Outside Inn received complaints but was found to be in compliance with the law.

Health inspectors moved on from there to another business with several complaints.

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Reality of smoking ban sets in
Kitchens closing, workers losing jobs

Jan. 20, 2007
By JENNIFER ROBISON, REVIEW-JOURNAL

Jill Israel thought the “going out of business” signs were a joke.

But shortly after she reported for duty as a waitress at the New York Deli News in Henderson on Jan. 12, her boss told her the closure notices were real. The deli’s landlord, a bar and grill, was ousting the restaurant to comply with Nevada’s new law banning smoking inside taverns that serve food.

Israel lost her job when the deli closed Monday.

“It’s unfortunate (voters) really didn’t read the law (Question 5) properly,” Israel said. “They didn’t read the fine print or see that people would actually lose their jobs. It’s not cool. It took away my livelihood. We had a great business.”

Business owners and restaurant employees across the Las Vegas Valley say the week-old smoking ban is already exacting a toll on their operations, with shuttered kitchens and a dwindling customer base resulting from the new policy.

The statewide law, which went into effect in Clark County after a Jan. 12 District Court order, forbids smoking in restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores and taverns that serve food. Casino floors, strip clubs and standalone bars are exempt from the ban — a privilege that proprietors and even their customers say is making it difficult for smaller businesses to survive.

“It’s like Prohibition,” said Pam Faught, a nonsmoker who frequents Jackson’s Bar & Grill on West Flamingo Avenue. “I would like to see them leave these businesses (taverns) alone. They invest so much in their kitchens and their staffs. I would hate to see all these people thrown out of work.”

Darren Denenberg, a professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a regular customer of the New York Deli News, said the restaurant’s fate “has affected (his) whole thought process on the issue.”

Denenberg supported Question 5 when anti-smoking advocates had the law placed on the ballot in November, but he now laments what he calls the “unintended consequences” of the referendum.

The owners of Doc Holliday’s, the bar that the deli shared space with, decided that preserving indoor smoking would be more lucrative than continuing to have food service on the premises.

Though the deli was within the bar, it was separated from Doc Holliday’s by a wall with open entries on either side, and it shared ventilation and restrooms with the tavern. Unlike its co-tenant, the New York Deli News was a nonsmoking eatery before Question 5 passed.

“It never really crossed my mind that a nonsmoking establishment would be put out of business because of a nonsmoking law,” Denenberg said. “I still have trouble understanding it. It’s a bizarre outcome of this law. This wonderful restaurant has to close, and the dark, smoky bar can stay open.”

Denenberg said he still supports the “spirit” of the smoking ban.

“But if it risks putting someone out of business unintentionally, then more care needs to be taken in drafting these types of laws,” he said. “There should be some clause or amendment so that a place like the New York Deli News could explain their situation. The lesson is that even if a law sounds well-intended, you really need to look through it and make sure it’s going to actually do what it says it’s going to do.”

The owners of the New York Deli News didn’t return a phone call seeking comment. The restaurant’s answering machine had a message stating the deli had closed as a result of Question 5.

Inside Jackson’s, Faught sat with her husband, Peter Faught, on Friday afternoon. As they played video poker, they noted that the bar had about one-third fewer customers than it would typically have the day before a weekend.

Jackson’s is licensed as a supper club, which means the establishment must by law keep its kitchen open. So owner Brian Slipock ditched his restaurant’s ashtrays and posted no-smoking signs Monday. Smokers who indulge inside Jackson’s are politely told they’re breaking the law and are directed outside to finish their cigarettes.

Slipock said it’s too early to determine the revenue hit Jackson’s has taken from the ban, but he added that he “can tell the amount of money in our machines is down.”

Slipock estimated that 25 percent fewer patrons were visiting the supper club since it began sending smokers outside to light up. He suspects the missing customers are warming the seats at two neighboring bars, which shut down their kitchens and thus retained the right to harbor smokers indoors. He said he’s plotting the restaurant’s future based on the assumption that the smaller client base is permanent.

“We’ve had a few people who got up from their machines and went outside to smoke, but when the weather is as cold as it was the last few nights, how many people are going to keep doing that?” Slipock asked.

Food is a loss leader at Jackson’s, so the restaurant makes all its money from its 15 video-poker machines, Slipock said. A significant hit to the supper club’s gaming revenue could imperil the jobs of some of the eatery’s 20 employees.

“We’ll start looking at those hard decisions in the next three or four weeks,” Slipock said. “We’re going to do everything we can to avoid going that (layoff) route. We’re just trying our best to work with the ban. Unfortunately, the bell has already been rung, and we’re going to do what we have to do to survive.”

Customers at Jackson’s gave the thumbs-down to the ban.

The Faughts, who aren’t smokers, saw little sense in the new law.

“I wish no one smoked, but the smoking ban is ridiculous,” Pam Faught said. “This is an adult place. People make the choice to walk in here. They’re making businesses and workers lose their income with this law, but if they want to end smoking, they should start at the source, with tobacco companies.”

Faught, who eats out with her husband three to five times a week, said the ban will affect even nonsmokers.

“Who’s going to pay for enforcement? Taxpayers will end up paying for it, whether we smoke or not,” she said. “And the people who are put out of work will fall back on social services, and that means taxes.”

Smoker Steve Hill, a construction worker visiting Las Vegas from Montana, was playing video poker at Jackson’s on Friday afternoon.

Hill said he thinks it “stinks” that people who want to ban smoking “are whining and sniveling about what other people do.”

Yet he also said it’s not a bother to take his cigarette breaks outside the restaurant. The smoking ban won’t change his habits, he added.

Keeping Jackson’s open could require intensive marketing efforts. Slipock said he’ll have to spend as much as $15,000 on gaming promotions and other enticements to lure back and retain customers.

A sign outside My Cousin Vinny Sports Bar on East Sahara Avenue makes a cheeky plea for customers: “Smokers welcome. All you can eat — before you get here.”

Owner and manager Bob Ferranti laid off one employee earning about $300 a week when he shuttered his kitchen because of the ban. He said it’s too soon to determine whether he’s losing money or patrons to the law.

Ferranti is having a hard time pinpointing what his rights and responsibilities are under the ban.

“It’s very frustrating. Everybody’s up in the air about the whole thing,” Ferranti said. “You might think they would have some kind of system set up when all this happened, but nobody’s told us anything. Our customers ask us, ‘Can we order a pizza in from down the street?’ We don’t know. All we can do is let them do what they want until someone tells us what we can do.”

Stephanie Bethel, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Health District, said the agency is developing educational materials informing the public and business owners of the law’s specific provisions. She said the district will probably mail out the literature within a month. Until then, the agency will refrain from hitting the streets in search of violators, who could get $100 tickets for each infraction.

But Bethel said anecdotal evidence shows most proprietors are obeying the new law.

“We’re happy to see that,” she said. “We think they’ll be compliant, as businesses have been in other locales that have put smoking bans into place.”

As for Israel, she’s on the hunt for a new job. She’s willing to wait tables again, but she’s also looking for positions in sales and marketing, the field she worked in before she entered the restaurant sector.

“It’s time to move on, and that’s what I’m doing,” Israel said. “Life is good. I’m not depressed. I did my grieving.

“But if anyone is looking for a great sales lady, let me know.”