Ban Damage: NV Reality of smoking ban sets in Page 3

By Jonathan On Jul 5, 2017

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

American Cancer Society drops appeal over convention center smoking
By Cy Ryan (contact)
Aug. 5, 2011
CARSON CITY – The American Cancer Society has dropped its appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court in a fight over allowing smoking in the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The American Cancer Society, which opposes smoking because of the health hazards, signed a stipulation this week with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to dismiss its 2009 suit due to a law approved by the 2011 Legislature.
The Legislature passed and the governor signed a bill this year permitting smoking in the convention center under certain conditions.
The law allows smoking in the convention center if an event is closed to the public, if it was produced by a business with ties to tobacco or a professional association for convenience stores, or if it has displays of tobacco products.
The Legislature in 2009 passed a similar exemption, but it was combined with a bill on stalking. The Cancer Society challenged that law, arguing that it violated the constitutional prohibition of having two subjects in one bill.
But Carson City District Judge James Wilson rejected the argument of the Cancer Society, which then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Cancer Society and the LVCVA filed opening and answering briefs earlier this year, but the Legislature in the final two days of the session in June approved the smoking exemption bill that deals with only one subject.

It Can Be Done
By Frank Davis
cfrankdavis.wordpress.com
CARSON CITY – Despite opposition from health officials, taverns and standalone bars have won the right to permit both smoking and food service under a bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Read more.

Governor signs bill to allow smoking in standalone bars that serve food

June 17, 2011
By Cy Ryan

CARSON CITY – Despite opposition from health officials, taverns and standalone bars have won the right to permit both smoking and food service under a bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Brian Sandoval.

The new law becomes effective immediately.

Lobbyists for the bar industry told the Legislature taverns have lost a large amount of business since the voter-approved Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act was passed in 2006.

Under Assembly Bill 571, those under 21 will be barred from taverns where food and smoking is permitted.

Health officials battled the bill, saying it was going against the wishes of the public who voted for the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, which prohibited smoking in a number of areas.

Kendall Stagg, one of the primary backers of the Act, urged Sandoval to veto the bill. He said AB 571 weakens the current law.

“The American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, American Heart Association and the Academy of Family Physicians all agree AB 571 would roll back one of the most successful health policies Nevada has implemented in decades,” Stagg said.

Also approved by Sandoval was Assembly Bill 528, which would allow money received from the state medical marijuana program to be used for drug and alcohol treatment.

The money, estimated to be about $700,000 a year, would be transferred to the state Division of Mental Health and Development services to carry out the programs.

The money comes from the $50 application fee to use medical marijuana and from a $150 charge for processing the application.

Some legislators complained that many users must get the drug on the street from illegal sales. A bill was introduced to create a state manufacturing program in Las Vegas to sell marijuana to pharmacies, but it never got out of committee.
?

Panel OKs bill to allow bar patrons to smoke and eat
Jun. 1, 2011
By Ed Vogel, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU
CARSON CITY — A move to allow taverns and bars to let patrons smoke and eat meals if children are not allowed on the premises gained momentum Wednesday under a bill approved 10-5 by the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.
Under Assembly Bill 571, if only adults 21 and older are allowed to enter, taverns and bars can permit smoking and serve patrons food.
The bill revises the voter-approved Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006, which bans smoking in restaurants, taverns and most other places where food is served. Voter-approved laws can be amended by the Legislature after three years.
Under the bill, taverns and bars also could offer two sections: one where adults could smoke and eat, and a second, completely enclosed, no-smoking area for families and adults who prefer that option.
“This would help out our industry,” said Sean Higgins, a lobbyist for tavern owners. “We have been hit with a double whammy, the recession and the no-smoking law.”
But Paul Hackett, who represents the American Cancer Society and smoking prevention groups, said the bill violates the will of voters.
“They are expanding the areas where smoking is allowed,” he said.
Hackett thinks that the amended bill will lead to sports bars and large taverns creating both smoking and nonsmoking sections. Because the doors will be opening and closing, he thinks second-hand smoke would filter into the nonsmoking section.
Ways and Means Chairwoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, opposed the bill.
She said it might take some time for the amended bill to get to the Assembly floor for approval of the amendment and a vote.
If it receives Assembly approval, then the proposal must go to the Senate for additional hearings. The session ends at 1 a.m. Tuesday, so the proposal might die.
Smith said that the Clean Indoor Air Act has worked “very well” in Washoe County and that changing the law goes against the wishes of voters. During hearings, witnesses said enforcement of the no-smoking law has been spotty in Clark County.
Higgins expects the bill, introduced May 20, will become law.
He maintains that the measure offers taverns and patrons freedom of choice.
“For some, children are a small part of their clientele,” Higgins said of businesses that would be affected by the law. “The business operators will have to make a choice.”
All six Republicans on the Assembly committee voted for the bill, while five of the nine Democrats opposed it. Voting no were Smith; Paul Aizley, D-Las Vegas; Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas; David Bobzien, D-Reno; and April Mastroluca, D-Henderson.

Bill would snuff out Nevada’s smoking ban in bars

May 20, 2011?
By Scott Wyland AND Laura Myers

CARSON CITY — Lawmakers have introduced a surprise bill to lift the ban on smoking in bars that serve food, a move that might have generated more buzz Friday night if many taverns weren’t already breaking the law.

Inside the Tap House in Las Vegas, which cheerfully declares itself “smoker friendly!” on its fa?ade, smokers and nonsmokers already sit side-by-side near patrons eating dinner.

“If I wanted clean air and kids around I’d go to a bookstore,” said Kenny Stevens, 36, who doesn’t smoke but still was pleased by the news.

Such statements were the norm in 2006, when voters approved the Clean Indoor Air Act, the measure that banned smoking in many businesses, including bars, taverns and saloons that serve food. Friday’s measure would repeal the restrictions on bars, but not on restaurants, slot-machine areas of grocery stores, schools and day-care centers.

Despite smokers’ nonchalance, the lawmakers’ action drew immediate condemnation from health advocates and applause from the tavern industry.

One Clark County commissioner said the casino industry was pressing lawmakers for the change to repay tavern owners for supporting restrictions on Dotty’s and other small-gaming establishments.

The Ways and Means Committee introduced Assembly Bill 571 so lawmakers can debate whether to repeal the ban for places that serve people who are 21 or older, said Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, the panel’s chairwoman.

She said bar owners, especially in Southern Nevada, have complained that the smoking ban has hurt business at a time when the economy is slumping.

“The tavern owners say they have suffered very serious business losses and people have lost their jobs because of the ban,” Smith said in an interview Friday.

Smith said she was reserving judgment on the bill, which will get a committee hearing Monday.

The ban is more contentious in Southern Nevada where taverns are competing with businesses such as Dotty’s that have no kitchens and cater to smokers who play slots. In Washoe County, there are fewer problems with the ban, Smith said.

The late introduction of the bill in the final two weeks of the session suggests some Democratic leaders back it.

It would probably get bipartisan support if it’s cast as a jobs-saver, and if big gaming gets behind the effort — increasing the chance of it passing.

Assemblyman Mark Sherwood, R-Henderson, decried the original ban and blamed “anti-smoking Nazis” for helping push voters to approve it in the first place.

“It’s been horrible for business,” Sherwood said when asked about the smoking restrictions, which he said were too harsh. “There are ways to do this without being draconian.”

But the American Lung Association in Nevada lambasted the effort to restore smoking in pubs that sell food.

The group noted that 310,000 people voted to forbid smoking near food. And in the same election, voters defeated a competing measure the industry proposed that would have weakened existing state laws on smoking in public places.

“There’s no safe level of secondhand smoke,” said Allison Newlon Moser, the lung association’s executive director.

It not only goes against the will of the public, Moser said, but it imperils the health of employees who must work in smoky settings. Working eight hours in a place with heavy secondhand smoke can be tantamount to puffing a pack of cigarettes, she said.

Nevadans already have a higher rate of emphysema than the national average, largely because of tobacco and air pollution, Moser said.

“The tavern owners talk about the jobs that are lost,” she said. If the bill passes, “it would only increase jobs for health care workers.”

Some bars and taverns complied with the ban, erecting walls between their restaurant and bar areas. But many business appeared to do little or nothing to comply with the effort. At the Tap House Friday evening, patrons smoked and drank at the bar, while others ate dinner just a few feet away.

Ken Kotora and his wife, Jaennette , have been visiting the bar since they moved to Las Vegas in 1996. They’re nonsmokers, and they were eating just a few feet away from smokers.

Ken Kotora, 65, voted in favor of the ban — but on accident. He said the language of the petition was misleading. He favors legislators repealing the ban.

“Don’t stop a bar from smoking,” he said. “Smokers have rights too.”

The couple said they noticed fewer customers at the Tap House just after the ban took effect, but business has returned to normal since.

One pub owner cheered when he heard of the legislative effort to overturn the ban.

Those who pursued the ban claimed that it would increase foot traffic in bars because more people would be attracted to smoke-free venues, but the opposite proved true, said Joe Wilcock, owner of the Brewery Bar and Grill and past president of the Nevada Tavern Association.

“That’s a fallacy — it never happened,” said Wilcock, who estimates his sales dropped by 25 percent.

No one can deny that smoking is unhealthy, Wilcock said. But people who don’t want to breathe secondhand smoke should not work or hang out in places where smoking is allowed, he said.

Wilcock noted that casinos are exempt from the smoking ban, calling it “hypocritical.”

County Commissioner Tom Collins, a former assemblyman, said he heard that big casinos cut a deal with the tavern owners; if the taverns backed restrictions on Dotty’s, the casinos would support lifting the smoking ban.

“That’s politics,” Collins said.

Gaming operators complained that it was unfair that they pay a percentage of their gambling revenue, while small establishments pay a flat fee, Collins said.

In April, commissioners approved new rules for Dotty’s and similar venues that include a requirement to embed eight gaming machines in bars instead of propping the machines atop bars. These businesses must comply within two years.

Also, any new place operating as a tavern must have 2,500 square feet of public space, a kitchen open at least 12 hours a day and be 2,000 feet away from another tavern.

Virginia Valentine, president of the Nevada Resort Association, declined to comment about the bill, saying she had just learned about it.

Jennifer Sizemore, Southern Nevada Health District spokeswoman, said the bill is no surprise.

Health officials began hearing rumblings during the Dotty’s uproar that the tavern industry would try to reverse the smoking ban, she said. Although the bill would forbid smoking if minors are on the premises, there are concerns about patrons and workers inhaling cigarette fumes, she said.

“As a public health agency, our goal is to protect as many people as possible from the dangers of secondhand smoke,” Sizemore said.

************
Business loss kills more workers than they claim SHS does!
Now, let’s suppose it is true that secondhand smoke causes 53,000 premature deaths each year among the 200 million nonsmokers in the USA,? if that claim were true, then secondhand smoke would cause the premature deaths of at most 2.5/10,000 hospitality workers in our region each year. But, if one reads ? it becomes clear that every 1% decline in income causes the premature deaths of 2.1/10,000 persons each year among NV hospitality workers…and contrary to secondhand smoke studies, which have mixed results, there are no studies contradicting the impact of income loss on life expectancy.
So, let’s suppose the NV ban caused a 20% decline in business.. THEN, 20% multiplied by 2.1 premature deaths/ 10,000 hospitality workers= 42 premature deaths/ 10,000 in NV, among those bar workers each year due to income loss. Compare that to the 2.5/ 10,000 they claim might be prematurely dying from secondhand smoke exposure each year, and we can easily see that if these NV bars are losing 20% of their business, then the smoking ban is about 16 times more deadly for those workers than the smoke was, due to income loss.? ( this does not take into account that most bar workers are first-hand smokers. So actually, even if smoke prematurely kills nonsmokers, shs exposure to most bar workers who are smokers would not matter)
This is a rough calculation that makes assumptions. factually, business loss health impact estimates might not be quite be this bad; on the other hand it might actually be even worse.? But most of the health claim assumptions made here are not mine, but those of antismoking activists.?
– Dave Kuneman

No smoking at the tobacco show
More folly from local Nanny Staters
December 24, 2009
The Tobacco Plus Expo and the Retail Tobacco Dealers convention (the latter held at the Sands Expo and Convention Center) drew 27,000 attendees with a $41 million economic impact over the past six years, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors authority.
But last year, due to Nevada’s Draconian law against indoor smoking, exhibitors and attendees at the Tobacco Plus Expo — scheduled to return to the Convention Center in March — were not allowed to sample tobacco products.
Near the end of the 2009 Legislature, lawmakers repaired that problem with a modest patch. Amending a bill already in the works to limit stalking, they added an amendment to AB309 to allow smoking at tobacco conventions.
Now comes the American Cancer Society with a lawsuit. Because the measure was added as an amendment to the anti-stalking measure, it violates the state constitution’s single-subject rule, the society claims.
In fact, the prohibitionists appear to have read the constitution incorrectly. The single-subject provision was installed to block voter initiatives which contain hidden, “Trojan horse” provisions. It has never before been considered a limit on lawmaking by the elected legislators.
“The title of the law refers to smoking and stalking as the crimes,” Legislative Counsel Bureau Director Lorne Malkiewich said. “There are many laws passed that include more than one crime.”
This lawsuit is likely to fail. At which point, the courts should order the prohibitionists to reimburse the convention authority and Nevada’s taxpayers their legal costs. But more important is what this effort again demonstrates.
It would be an understatement to say the tobacco prohibition zealots — this latest effort demonstrates once again their goal is step-by-step prohibition, not merely “protecting the children,” who tend to be thin on the ground at tobacco conventions — don’t give a hoot about Nevada’s jobs or economy. Look at all the kitchen and food-service workers who lost their jobs when the smoking ban hit bars and taverns.
Now, with Nevada still up to our armpits in the worst recession in half a century, the zealots want to reverse a modest and common-sense attempt to keep tobacco conventions heading this way by allowing attendees — adults who have paid to be there — to sample exhibitors’ perfectly legal wares?
That’s like saying your booze and lingerie conventions are welcome in Saudi Arabia — though of course no one in attendance will actually be allowed to taste the hooch or see the underwear.
This is Nevada. Those who don’t like gaming, drinking, smoking and a host of other adult activities long tolerated here have 49 other states to choose from. But that’s precisely what they can’t stand, isn’t it — the thought that somewhere, even if it’s far away in some remote and forbidding desert, adults may be participating in a consensual activity of which they do not approve.

—–Original Message—–
From:? XXX
Sent:? 12/24/2009 07:57:29 AM
To:? contactus@emailcenter.cancer.org>
Subject:? American Cancer Society

“The American Cancer Society is suing the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority”
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11716731

Is this what charitable donations to the ACS are now used to fund, lawsuits??? I look forward to your reply….

********************
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: American Cancer Society – Contact Us undl@emailcenter.cancer.org>
Date: Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Subject: RE: American Cancer Society

If you reply to this message, please retain your serial number in the subject line. This reference, (THREAD ID:1-XXXX) (ACTIVITY ID:1-XXXX) will assist us in locating your questions and answers. To help us evaluate the quality of this email response, please consider participating in a survey that can be accessed through this link:
http://acs.emailsurvey.sgizmo.com/?aid=1-2I0WGRE

Dear XXX,

Thank you for your question about the suit mentioned in the article “The American Cancer Society is suing the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.” So that our legislative/advocacy staff can contact you about this matter, please consider replying to this message with your phone number. If you prefer, you may reach our representative Thomas McCoy at 775-329-0600 or by email at tom.mccoy@cancer.org for information.

Thank you for contacting your American Cancer Society.

Nydia
Online Cancer Information Specialist

If you have any questions, please contact us via http://www.cancer.org or call 1-800-ACS-2345. Information Specialists are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Study says ban causes no harm
Bar owners disagree with research

Apr. 21, 2009
By RICHARD LAKE, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The smoking ban did not hurt business in Southern Nevada, a study released Monday by UNLV researchers concluded.

Oh yes, it most certainly did, countered bar owners in the he-said, she-said dispute.

Nancy York, the study’s lead author and an assistant nursing professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said researchers examined 10 years of economic data to form their conclusions.

“Overall, these indicators that people were saying took a hit from the Clean Indoor Air Act did not,” she said.

Tax revenues, employment numbers and tavern closings and openings were among the data researchers analyzed.

“That’s the most irresponsible thing I’ve ever heard out of UNLV,” said Gene Hill, president of the Nevada Tavern Owners Association.

The tavern owners have opposed the ban, which went into effect in December 2006 after voters approved it.

It essentially outlaws smoking in restaurants, child care operations and in bars that serve food. Smoking remains legal in casinos.

Bar owners have testified before the state Legislature that they saw precipitous declines in business immediately after the ban went into effect.

The state Senate voted last week to weaken the ban by allowing smoking in bars that serve food, with some restrictions. The changes, if approved by the Assembly and signed by the governor, would go into effect in December.

The UNLV study was funded through a UNLV President’s Research Award. With York, its authors included Chris Cochran and Jay Shen, associate professors of health care administration and policy, and Keith Schwer, director of UNLV’s Center for Economic Research. UNLV said two people from the Southern Nevada Health District helped in the study.

Hill said that because nearly all of the study’s authors had health care backgrounds, its conclusions should be greeted with caution.

But York said the researchers simply looked at economic data. The data showed that, yes, there was a decline in business, but it began before the smoking ban and it shadowed a similar decline in businesses not involved in the ban.

She said claims by some establishments that the ban hurt business might or might not be true, individually. But it did not hurt business overall in Clark County, she said.

She acknowledged that Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority representatives have said the ban cost the economy $41 million in lost conventions related to the tobacco industry. But she said that there are other groups who will hold conventions only in places where smoking bans are in effect.

She also said that the study’s results match those of similar studies around the nation.

But Hill insisted the study’s methodology was faulty, its conclusions baseless.

“We’ve done our own study,” he said, which indicated each establishment affected by the ban lost an average of three employees because of it.

The ban has been in effect for more than two years, and no bar owner or smoker has been cited by authorities .

Bill softening Nevada smoking ban passes Legislative committee

April 8, 2009

CARSON CITY (AP) — A bill that would ease the terms of a voter-approved measure that banned smoking in many bars and other public places was approved on a 6-1 Wednesday by a key legislative committee.

SB372, approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would soften the 2006 Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act to allow smoking in bars that serve food as long as minors are restricted from entry. Also, businesses could wall off separately ventilated smoking rooms.

Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, said she voted against the bill because it “would undo the good work that has been done” by the 2006 act.

As amended, the bill allows the state health officer to designate local health authorities to enforce the law.

Bill easing smoking ban endorsed

By RACHELLE GINES Associated Press Writer
04/08/2009
CARSON CITY, Nev. — A bill that would ease the terms of a voter-approved measure that banned smoking in many Nevada bars and other public places was approved on a 6-1 Wednesday by a key legislative committee.

SB372, approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which softens the 2006 Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, would allow smoking in bars that serve food as long as minors are restricted from entry. Also, businesses could wall off separately ventilated smoking rooms.

Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, who cast the lone “no” vote, said she sympathizes with the bill’s advocates who say the 2006 ban hurt many businesses and cost many people their jobs. But she said SB372 “would undo the good work that has been done” by the 2006 act.

“I believe that what was done in the Clean Indoor Act was the proper thing to do to protect the public health of the people of Nevada, and I didn’t see that any modifications would be appropriate,” Wiener said after the hearing.

As amended, the bill calls for fines of up to $1,000 for bar owners who fail to keep out minors. Also, the state health officer could designate local health authorities to enforce the act.

Sen. Allison Copening, D-Las Vegas, said banning minors from bar eateries that allow smoking addressed arguments by the bill’s opponents that children could be exposed to second-hand smoke.

“I know that one of the main concerns of the opponents we heard over and over again was the exposure of smoke to children, and I think that satisfies that,” Copening said.

Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, said he didn’t agree with the fine because it represented an added burden on bar owners, though he agreed minors should be kept out.

Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, who suggested the idea of a fine, said he understood Washington’s point, but bar owners who serve food can choose whether or not to allow smoking.

“I’m of the mind if this is what these people want, then there should be a burden,” Care said.

The 2006 initiative prohibited smoking in restaurants and bars that serve food, in slot machine sections of grocery and convenience stores, and at video arcades, shopping malls, schools and day-care centers. Smoking is still allowed on gambling floors of casinos.

Herbst Gaming talking restructuring
Dec. 06, 2008
By HOWARD STUTZ LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Herbst Gaming said late Thursday it is discussing a restructuring agreement with its lenders after missing a $5.1 million interest payment earlier in the week.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the locals gaming company also extended its forbearance and standstill agreement with its banks until Feb. 2 in an effort to restructure $846.8 million in debt.
Meanwhile, Herbst Gaming said it lost $101.2 million in the first nine months of 2008, compared with a net loss of $34.1 million for the same period a year earlier.
Herbst, which is privately held by brothers Ed, Tim and Troy Herbst but has public debt, operates 15 casinos in Nevada and the Midwest and a 7,200-slot machine route operation.
In March, the company said it was facing bankruptcy unless it could restructure its debt. Negotiation deadlines have been extended several times this year.
Gaming analysts expect the company to file bankruptcy, or possibly, a prepackaged bankruptcy in which the Herbst brothers would give up control over parts of the business.
Herbst grew significantly in 2007, acquiring casinos in Northern Nevada and completing a $394 million purchase of the three Primm Casinos from MGM Mirage. Also, the company finished an expansion to its Terrible’s Casino on East Flamingo Road.
However, the company’s gaming revenues were ravaged by a statewide voter-enacted ban on smoking in restaurants and taverns. Herbst’s slot route operations lost business; through September, revenues from routes were $186.9 million, down 12 percent compared with $212.5 million for the first nine months of 2007.
The company’s casino operations in Primm were hurt this year because high gasoline prices kept visitors from Southern California from making the drive on Interstate 15. Still casino revenues companywide have increased 4 percent in the first nine months of the year.
The company’s nine-month loss stems from an operating loss of $16.7 million and interest expenses of $85.3 million.

Black closes Oasis’ casino
Dec. 03, 2008
By ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Cost-cutting move will trim company work force by 500
Mesquite operator Black Gaming will temporarily close the Oasis’ casino, restaurants and night clubs on Friday in a cost-cutting move for the financially struggling company.
The closing will cut the company’s work force by 500, according to a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Oasis’ 900-room hotel, RV park, neighboring golf course, gun club and time-share facilities will remain open.
Majority owner and Chief Executive Officer Randy Black Sr. said Tuesday the company wants to drive customers to its other two properties: the 480-room CasaBlanca and the 710-room Virgin River.
“We’re all hopeful the economy comes back,” Black said. “Because, if it doesn’t, things are just going to get worse.”
While the filing’s language described the move as temporary, an accompanying statement signed by Black warned “the length and depth of the challenging gaming market” means “no assurances can be made about” when the Oasis’ facilities would be reopened.
Black Gaming’s third-quarter revenues dropped 23.6 percent with the property showing a negative cash flow of $900,000.
Visitor volume to the town 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas is down 6.6 percent through September, with occupancy rates down 5.5 percent, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Daily room rates for the city dropped 35.8 percent through September, and gaming revenues are down 9.9 percent, according to the visitors authority.
Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck said the loss of 500 jobs in a city of 20,000 surrounded by smaller communities is devastating anytime of year but especially at Christmastime.
“Laying off 500 people has a huge domino effect,” Holecheck said. “At Christmastime, if people are out of a job and not making money, then they are not able to go to the stores and restaurants. If people don’t have the money, they in turn aren’t helping our businesses.”
The Oasis will give the laid-off workers a packet with information on applying for social services such as unemployment and food stamps, Marty Rapson, Black Gaming’s marketing vice president, said Tuesday.
The workers will also be put on a list to be rehired when the property reopens, Rapson said.
Before the layoffs, CasaBlanca, Oasis and Virgin River ranked as the top three employers in Mesquite with a combined 2,278 workers, according to a city economic development report released in April.
The company will have approximately 1,500 workers following the layoffs, according to Monday’s federal filing.
The Oasis will keep a few slot machines open at the front counter to maintain the property’s nonrestricted gaming license.
The property began shutting down the casino’s table games on Monday and will continue to phase out casino and restaurant operations this week.
The restaurants will close Friday after dinner, Rapson said, but no time has been set.
The company’s ability to close portions of the Oasis was part of a Nov. 3 update to a bank agreement after it defaulted on a loan.
The current bank agreement expires Jan. 15, which means it would have to be updated if the Oasis’ facilities remain closed past that date.
Black said the company is negotiating with the banks, but no decision as been made on what will be done in January.
Black Gaming is operating under $188.7 million in debt with interest rates near double digits.
Black is also getting hurt by his sole competition — the 215-room Eureka hotel-casino which recently completed a $30 million expansion and renovation.
Black said this year that “the other guy” controls 30 percent of the market.
Majority-owned by Las Vegas real estate developers the Lee Family, the Eureka added 300 new slot machines, expanded its buffet, and added a new poker room and new sports book.

News from Vegas only getting worse
Precipitous drop in gambling revenue guts casino stocks
July 10, 2008
By William Spain, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Casino stocks were battered again Thursday, with shares of the big players scraping to multiyear lows on the back of news of a precipitous drop in Nevada’s gambling revenue.
Statewide, gambling revenue in May slumped 15%, with a roughly similar pace of decline in table games and slot machines alike. Things were even worse on the Las Vegas Strip, where total gambling revenue fell 16.4% — the largest decline yet in 2008, and one that is at an increasing rate as quarter-to-date revenues for the Strip are off 9%.
“The decline in Strip revenues is worse than the period immediately following Sept. 11, 2001 and except for January 2002 is the worst monthly performance in more than 10 years,” analyst Robin Farley of UBS wrote in a research report. “The weakness in gaming revenues was not confined exclusively to the Strip as the Las Vegas locals market declined 19.5% in May, bringing year to date revenues down 8.7%.”
The figures brought another round of pain to shareholders of the gambling giants, as MGM Mirage (MGM: 23.14 -6.44 -21.77% 4:01pm 07/10/2008)? fell nearly 22% to $23.14, its lowest mark since late 2005; Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS: 34.01 -4.12 -10.81%? 4:00pm 07/10/2008 ) was taken down 11% to $34.015, a three-year-low; and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN 69.94, -7.62, -9.8%) was off 9.8% to a level not seen since 2006? Boyd Gaming Corp (BYD 9.28, -0.66, -6.6%? 4:04pm 07/10/2008) , which specializes in the Las Vegas locals market but is in the process of building its multibillion dollar Echelon property, fell more than 6% to $9.28.
By way of contrast, last fall MGM shares cracked $100 at one point; Sands was nearly $150; Wynn traded above $176 and Boyd hit almost $55.
Joe Greff of J.P. Morgan said a reporting method includes the slot drop from the last two days in May, but not the win, reduced revenue by roughly $10.5 million for the month, but “we note that even after adjusting for this issue, results on the Strip were still pretty ugly.”
‘People are just staying closer to home.’ — Nick Danna, Stern Agee & Leach
Then, after the market closed on Thursday, Wynn Resorts said it expects Las Vegas operating income to drop by two-thirds to the $18 million to $22 million range, compared with $63.4 million last year. In Macau, however, operating income is expected to be in the range of $100 million to $106 million, compared with $53.2 million in the year-ago period, the company said.
Revenue away from the casino floor, now typically more than half of the total at most Strip resorts, also have been under pressure as cash-strapped airlines hike fares and cut capacity at McCarran International Airport. That in turn pushes down room rates and occupancy levels while leading to lower spending by visitors who do come.
“The decline appears to be accelerating,” said Nick Danna, an analyst with Stern Agee & Leach. “Their reliance on nongaming revenue is really hurting them,” as the spend per visitor drops.
He sees no immediate end in sight either: “We are recommending that investors avoid the Las Vegas-centric stocks as it appears that market is performing worse than some of the regional ones. People are just staying closer to home.”
Jim Murren, president of MGM Mirage, remains relatively sanguine and thinks that the market reaction has been overblown.
“We go through cycles in hospitality, we go through cycles in Las Vegas,” he recently told MarketWatch. “There seems to be a kind of piling-on effect right now with folks worried about any of myriad issues. We think we have a handle on this. We have been through this before.”
He pointed out that the company is still running occupancy in the 90% range.
“Sure, we have had to lower rates to do that but we are filling up these rooms,” Murren said. “And we are generating strong profits. Are we making as much money as last year? No. But we are making more money than we did in 2005 and 2006, and we felt pretty good about ourselves back then.”
LasVegasAdvisor surveyed 84 casino-hotels and found that more than half had available rates of $50 or less in July
Total visitation to Las Vegas fell 1.5% in April, according to figures compiled by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which pushed the year-to-date figure to a dip of 0.1% while hotel occupancy levels fell 3.8% that month, or 1.7% since the start of 2008.
In his most recent survey, Greff at J.P. Morgan found that room rates on the Strip for the week of July 27 through August 2 plummeted 23% to an average of $156, with weekday rates down 24% and weekend rates off 20%. For the third quarter to date, rate are down 16% overall, compared with a 13% decline in the first quarter.
“We believe that the results of the survey reflect the impact of a slowing economy on travel to and spend on the Strip; it also reflects aggressive pricing/discounting of room rates,” he said. “When it stops is tough to forecast with any great precision, though we think this continues through the summer.”
A recent report by LasVegasAdvisor.com found that many resorts are discounting room rates to their lowest levels since 2003. The Web site surveyed 84 casino-hotels and found that more than half had available rates of $50 or less in July.
This isn’t just for the lower-tier hotels, it reported: “Despite efforts to disguise discounting on the high end, many of Las Vegas’ luxury resorts are slashing rates” as well as offering additional lures including meal credits, free play and even airfare and gasoline rebates.
That survey found prices below $90 at Luxor, MGM Grand, Flamingo, Hard Rock, Mirage, Palms, Planet Hollywood and Paris, while “a rate check of comparable accommodations in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Orlando yielded only two hotels with a sub-$50 rate.”
Of course, any slump on the Strip ripples into the locals market, he added, leading to lower employment rates and more suffering in an already beaten-down housing market.
“We are seeing it across all market segments in Las Vegas, whether it is the tourist market or the locals market,” said Keith Smith, chief executive of Boyd Gaming. “Unemployment is up and lot of those people are our customers who come to [play] at our properties.”
William Spain is a MarketWatch staff writer in Chicago.

Nevada Taverns Refuse to Obey Nevada Smoking ban

June 21, 2008

Las Vegas Sun reports on the libertarian streak in Nevada:
Two years ago — when the economy was humming along fine and nobody was getting hepatitis C from a colonoscopy ?— Nevada’s proposed indoor smoking ban was front-page news.

The measure, passed by voters statewide, took effect in early 2007. But drive around town and it’s still easy to find a place to smoke cigarettes.

Dozens of establishments across the Las Vegas Valley continue to ignore the ban, known as the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act. Among other places, the ban prohibits smoking in bars and taverns that serve food.

Over the past 18 months, 4,022 complaints have been made to the Southern Nevada Health District.

And how many resulted in citations?

Nil. None. Zero.

It’s tough to blame the bar owners because nobody has ever had to pay the $100 fine for smoking a cigarette indoors in Clark County. That’s partly because no court is accepting the citations. And so, for now, no one is issuing them.

The Health District is working with local justice courts, hoping they soon will accept the citations.

“There’s no place to have hearings,” said Stephen Minagil, an attorney for the Southern Nevada Health District. “We’re ready to write citations. We’re just waiting to hear how the justice court wants to handle them.”