All I ever see is complaints about smoking and I KNOW I am not the only smoker here. It may come as a suprise, but we aren't the evil demons that so many of you make us out to be.
So, a rebuttal (and a bit of a rant) from the minority:
"Less than 20 percent of the population smokes, but walk into any Vegas
casino, and you'd swear they run the place."
I believe the percentage of gamblers who smoke may be quite a bit higher than the percentage of the general population who does. If not, the casinos would be jumping on the non-smoking ban wagon much faster, now wouldn't they? The ugly reality is that they are in business to make money, not to worry about your health. If so, they wouldn't be serving you all of those drinks and taking the money you should be buying your blood pressure medicine with. And if the smokers are in the smoking section, they feel they have the right to do so (as they should), just as you feel you have the right to not put up with their smoking in the non-smoking section (as you should).
There are bad and good machines in both sections of most casinos, it just seems that the good ones are always in the section you aren't in. Trust me, all the smokers think the good machines are in the non-smoking section 
"The problem with channging those places associated with having many smokers
is the drop in sales/revenue that historically has accompanied such a
move."
Good for the businesses that realize this and good for the smokers who refuse to patronize those who don't. Maybe we are finally getting tired of being the fashionably evil second class citizens. For every 10 who say they don't smoke, there are 2 or 3 of those who are "closet smokers" and just won't admit it because they are ashamed to. You know who you are......you people who sneak a cigarette every chance you get, usually bummed from one of the smokers you compain so loudly about, and don't want your husband/wife/kid/parents/friends to know because you quit smoking for them (not yourself).
The truth? Most of us don't want to take over ANY PLACE: we think you have just as much right to clean air as we do to our cigarettes. We just want our corner in which to puff where it won't bother anyone else, and we are rapidly losing even that because someone else wants to save us from ourselves.
There are always going to be rude jerks who will be inconsiderate about smoking around non-smokers, but it goes both ways: there are plenty of rude non-smokers too. Personally (and most of the smokers I know are the same way) if my smoking bothers you, simply ask me politly not to do it around you and I will respect your wishes, especially if you have health problems. However, being snotty about it or doing stupid, rude things like blowing a little fan in my face (yes, that has happened), or talking about my "nasty" habit to your friend as if I am not there (also happened), is probably just going to get some extra smoke blown in your direction.
K
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