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Montana Gambling Latest to Suffer Under Smoking Ban
HELENA, MONTANA --
Montana is learning the same lesson Illinois, Colorado, New Jersey, and other states have found, that gambling revenue will drop dramatically when smoking privileges are denied. Casino and gaming tax collections fell 18 percent in the state for the last quarter of 2009, as a ban on smoking at bars and restaurants went into effect.
Rick Ask, head of Montana's Gambling Control Division, says video gambling tax income dropped by $2.7 million over the previous quarter, or 17.8 percent. That's also down 16.8 percent from the same quarter of the previous year.
“The downturn has been ranging from 15 percent and 20 percent in most licensees that have any significant gaming property,” said Mark Staples of the Montana Tavern Association to the Billings Gazette.
Staples discounted discussion that the recession is responsible for the sudden decline in gambling, pointing out that the recession had hit over a year before the smoking ban was implemented, and the timing of the drop coincides exactly with the smoking enforcement.
According to Staples, proponents of the Montana smoking laws were well aware of the potential economic devastation, but insisted that possible second-hand smoke health issues far outweigh any consideration of the damage done to businesses, even at the cost of the very jobs they seek to make healthier.
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