casino industry apparently wants to believe that when it comes to smoking in casinos, they can be flat-Earthers who avoid or ignore the material amount of science that explains the health risks of cigarette smoke in casinos. While some people still believe the world is flat, the science is pretty unequivocal that this is untrue. Once again, nothing soothes moral cowardice like the notion that there is profit in it. And they do this with distortions, avoidance, and denial.

In today’s casino industry, this moral cowardice is reflected by those in power subjecting the guests, employees, and regulators to a known and unequivocal health hazard - smoking - that they believe will result in increased profits. Apparently, nothing soothes moral cowardice as well as the potential to make money. The security guards at these facilities were instructed to escort Black people out of the building should they not understand the “rules.” The belief was that had Black people been allowed within the casinos, it would have made these environments less attractive for the white folks, and that could have cut into the casinos’ profits. While this was unsettling to many, the industry proper was apparently fine with it. In the early 1960s, Black people were not allowed in Las Vegas Strip casinos. “To see what is right and not do it is cowardice.”

Non smoking areas in las vegas casinos