At one point during her Saturday evening on Harrah's casino barge anchored here, Tensi Beavers needed a cigarette. But Illinois had recently banned smoking in casinos. So Ms. Beavers did something that is making gambling executives choke on their smoke-free casino air: She walked away from her game.
``I like to play and smoke, but you can't, so ... ,'' Beavers said, clutching a pack of cigarettes and searching for the smokers' lounge, located just off the casino floor but too far from the nearest slot machine to gamble.
To players like Beavers, smoking and gambling go hand in hand _ cigarette in one hand, slot-machine button in the other.
Now, that ritual is being upended in several states where casino smoking bans have been implemented or are on the way. The bans are hitting casinos at a time when larger economic woes _ such as airline flight reductions, cash-strapped consumers and the credit crisis _ are driving down casino revenues from Las Vegas to Connecticut.
``The smoking ban is having a major impact,'' said Tom Swoik, head of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association. Casinos in Illinois have posted double-digit declines in revenue since the smoking ban took effect in January.
For the complete story, please see Smoking bans forcing gamblers to walk away The Wall Street Journal via AP via The Courier News, September 19, 2008.
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