Smoking ban has apparently cut into revenue from charitable gambling

In Minnesota, they enacted a smoking ban last year at bingos and and other charitable gaming venues. As a result, many charitys that depend on charitable gaming for funding have been hurt. A number have even closed the doors on their bingo.

Below is an excerpt from an article that appeared earlier this year in the Minneapolis-St.Paul Star Tribune:

The statewide ban, which began late last year, is tied to a significant decline in bar pulltab and bingo receipts, according to a study by the State Gambling Control Board.

Affirming what American Legion hall operators and mom-and-pop bar owners had warned, a new report shows that the statewide ban on smoking enacted last year appears to have cut into charitable gambling revenues from bar game pulltabs and bingo.

Gross receipts from charitable gambling were down 12.8 percent in the last three months of 2007, which correlates with when the statewide smoking ban took effect. Even taking into account a weakening economy, the ban is likely to be responsible for a decline in gross receipts of 7.5 percent to 8 percent, or a loss equal to $95 million to $105 million a year, according to the report.

The overall 12.8 percent drop represents the largest decline in receipts since lawful gambling was first regulated in the state in 1985, according to the report released Monday by the State Gambling Control Board, which regulates the industry.

For the full article, see Mark Brunswick, Smoking ban has apparently cut into revenue from charitable gambling Star Tribune, March 31, 2008.