Smoking in casinos OK
The scenario is similar to the one we currently find in Hong Kong, but in Macau the law on tobacco control will not be as heavy. The Government has already drafted the new rules for smoking in public places in the territory. If the Legislative Assembly (AL) approves it, soon it will be prohibited to smoke in almost every public place in Macau, except casinos, sauna and massage lounges, and dance halls.
The bill on tobacco control was sent to the AL on Wednesday. The Government proposes to ban people from smoking in a large list of public places: in the workplace, hotels, restaurants, bars and karaokes, beaches, public pools, parks and gardens managed by the Government, commercial areas; Government buildings, as well as the legislative and judicial offices; maritime terminals and airports, museums, cinemas, barbershops, hairdressers and beauty salons; institutions used by children under-18 like summer camps or kindergartens; primary and secondary schools; but also institutions of higher education and vocational training centres.
Smokers who violate the restrictions may be subject to fines ranging from MOP400 - 600 (in Hong Kong the fixed fine is HK1500). If someone smokes or even lights a cigarette or other kind of tobacco product inside a health care facility, a school or any place that stores flammable products they will be fined MOP600. If they do it in hotels, restaurants, parks and non-smoking rooms they will be fined MOP400.
Moreover, the Government is planning to create a system to encourage the offenders to pay the fine as soon as possible. Thus, if one pays the bill within 15 days, they will get a 50 percent discount.
Casinos, saunas and nightclubs are the private sector businesses that will most likely be the least affected by the tobacco control act. Although restricted to designated smoking areas, people can still smoke in there.
The same happens in maritime terminals and airports, universities and vocational training centres. If someone wants to smoke at workplaces they can only do that in appropriate outdoor areas.
The law establishes a fine between MOP10,000 and 100,000 for businesses that refuse to create areas for smokers. They have one year to do it from the day the tobacco control act takes effect.
The legislative procedure of this bill has been constantly postponed because of gaming operators. Several lawmakers have demanded a law on tobacco control for a long time and, recently, the director of the Health Bureau, Lei Chin Ion, explained to the AL that the bill was already finished but had encountered obstacles from the gaming sector.
The bill also defines rules for packaging and labelling tobacco products, as well as for the levels of nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar included in products. Tobacco production companies that violate those rules will be subject to a MOP100,000 fine.
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There is a great solution for gamblers or gamers who dislike smoking: Wear surgical masks in the casino then:))
For workers in the casino, smoking is part of the deal.
By admin | March 6, 2007
The Bear Growls: The Nevada Gaming Control Board – Clean it Up or Disband It!
The Nevada Gaming Control Board is little more than a training ground for future casino employees. The last two chairmen crossed the line and went to work for the casino industry after their “public service” ended. Excerpts from my recent column:
… What should be frightening and infuriating to Nevadans is that the outrageous activity by casinos is tolerated by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. If there was to be a vote for least effective public agency, the Gaming Control Board would win easily. It appears to be corrupt from top to bottom, operating as a de facto arm of the casino industry, instead of protecting the public from casino wrongdoing.The Gaming Control Board is little more than a training ground for future casino employees. The last two chairmen crossed the line and went to work for the casino industry after their “public service” ended. Will present Chairman Dennis Neilander be far behind? The current Board is a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil trio of two undistinguished career bureaucrats and a casino-industry attorney who cater to every whim of the casino bosses, and do little or nothing to protect the public.
Publicized cases of casino cheating underscore the mentality of the Board. The Venetian was caught rigging drawings. The Board fined it a million dollars, which is a petty slap on the wrist for the Venetian. The casino’s license should have been suspended for at least thirty days, the casino closed during that time, and the Venetian ordered to pay its employees during the closure. The crooked employees should have been referred to the District Attorney’s Office for criminal prosecution. Not only was that not done, the Board didn’t even see fit to revoke the privileged licenses of the crooks. To its credit, the Venetian fired all four scoundrels involved in the sordid affair. But at least three subsequently went to work in executive positions at other casinos, one right here in Las Vegas.
In a more recent case, the Golden Nugget attempted to cheat a patron who won $48,600 on a sports bet. The Golden Nugget said it simply would not pay the winner, though it would refund the $2700 bet. The Gaming Control Board ordered the Golden Nugget to pay the victim, but assessed an absurdly small monetary penalty of less than $30,000. Again, no casino employee was prosecuted for trying to cheat a patron, and the fine, actually imposed for failure to notify the Board of a “patron dispute,” was so small as to be ridiculous. It is comical to call an outright attempt to cheat a patron a “patron dispute.” It should have been called what it was, an attempt to cheat a patron.
There are many cases of corrupt Gaming Control Board agents threatening winning casino patrons with phony charges and arrests in attempts to extort the patrons to give back to the casino their honest, legal winnings. The Board has never publicly disclosed if these corrupt agents have been fired, prosecuted, or even disciplined.
The Board had to be sued before it agreed to take action to stop casino cheating at blackjack, through a computerized table that uses marked cards. Incredibly, the Board has permitted the continued use of the marked cards, but has made it less easy, though not impossible, for casinos to use the device to cheat patrons. The Board refuses to publicly disclose a copy of the anti-cheating orders it claims to have issued. Without the embarrassment of being sued for refusing to do its job, the Board would likely have continued to do nothing while the cheating went on unabated.Unfortunately, the Board has the ability to operate largely in secret. A few ill-conceived statutes allow it more secrecy than a regular police department. Most of its files are not considered public records, and are not available for public inspection. Most of its business is conducted via secret deals with casino bosses. Of course, the secret sweetheart-deal making works to the advantage of the Board, its employees and the casino bosses, and to the detriment of the public.
The present Gaming Control Board is an out-of-control, corrupt government agency operating in virtual secrecy. Legislation is needed to force it to open its files and records to the sunshine of public scrutiny. If after public examination of its practices, it is determined to unsalvageable, it should be disbanded, its employees fired from the public payroll.
Nevada does not need another cheating scandal or another abuse-of-patrons scandal in its casinos. There have been far too many already, with no meaningful action ever taken against the wrongdoers. Nevada is competing with many other gaming and vacation destinations. The other states take casino cheating and other wrongdoing seriously. Nevada needs to start doing the same, before it is too late. Once we get a national or worldwide reputation for not having legitimate, effective government oversight of casinos, many of the tourists — the lifeblood of our economy — will stop taking the risk of visiting Nevada.
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