have you ever been in a Vegas casino? You could walk for hours and never see daylight. They make it as hard as possible to find your way outside, and try to provide everything you need – food, drinks, etc – without leaving the casino.
10 minutes you spend outside smoking is 10 minutes you are not gambling.
So that you do not leave the casino floor and keep gambling. That is also part of why they give out free drinks on the floor. The fewer reasons you have to leave the gambling floor, the more money you are likely to spend. If people take breaks to smoke they are more likely to stop gambling for the day, or at least for a few hours.
There is actually some research that shows smokers tend to gamble more. And that if they have to take a break from gambling to smoke they are more likely to gamble less because it gives them time to stop and reconsider.
So the casinos believe they make more money from smokers by allowing them to smoke inside than they lose from nonsmokers who aren’t willing to be around indoor smoking.
Not the expert, but I would guess the casinos desire is three-fold
First, it harkens back to the “glory days” in their customers minds. Even the non-smokers have the mental image of big roller mob bosses chuffing a cigar as they play cards. That fantasy is a possible draw for customers.
Second, the longer a single customer stays at the table, the more the casino makes off them. Forcing smokers to leave means they are more likely to not come back. It also allows others at the table to think about leaving, which many will for normal reasons (what time is it, how much have I spent, that girl/guy is cute, etc.). If you can minimize peoples thoughts of things other than the table, they spend more.
Third, it is a distraction. To the smoker and the non-smoker. Anything that takes attention away from the game at the table makes the player a slightly worse player. This means more money for the casino.
Casinos are built around the concept of keeping people indoors gambling for as long as possible. If they have to go outside once in a while it breaks their flow and they might go to bed or go do something else after they are done with their smoke. And there are a lot more smokers among the gamblers then in the general population. Even a lot of non-smokers will often enjoy a smoke while gambling. Casinos are able to accomodate people who do not want to sit in smoke to some degree by adding lots of ventilation and having non-smoking sections. This is cheaper then risking your smokers will leave the table.
The entire casino industry is built around keeping you as close to the game as possible.
That’s why they give free drinks. The more you drink, the looser you are with your money, the more you spend.
You also spend more when you are continuously playing, rather than stopping. Going outside for a smoke does exactly this. It breaks your flow in whatever game you are playing and removes you from everything inside the casino that has been designed for you to spend money and continuously play.
How do you get round this? Let people smoke inside.
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