Smoking ban, economy forces Alton's casino to cut employees (bars, friends)

[aragx6]

huh... I have never heard of that... weird...

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by aragx6

huh... I have never heard of that... weird...

Yeah, thats why they taste different and burn different now.
I really do not think they are that much safer either.

[computerguysd]

When I was traveling through MO a few weeks ago, I picked up Marlboros for about 27$ a carton. Kentucky's Best was $16 a carton and actually seemed to be as good, or better than Marlboro.

How the anti smoking groups can say that smoking bans in bars and casinos has no effect on revenue is truly unbelievable.

[alwaystraveling25]

Hey Everyone,

I recently moved to Chicago from Kansas City, which has smoking on both sides of the state line (minus a few cities).

I go out to bars more now because there is no-smoking. I like to socialize with my friends at bars (I'm 25), and we talked about it the other night and agreed that we all go out now more because of the smoking ban - that we do not smell like smoke and cigarettes at the end of the night.

In addition to drinking in bars, I also will eat dinner or lunch there now, whereas before I would have gone out of my way to go to a non-smoking restaurant.

I understand smokers like to smoke, but as a non-smoker, I can most certainly guarantee you that I go and spend more money at bars and restaurants that used to have smoking in them.

[aragx6]

That's not really the point of this thread. We have discussed that quite a bit in the past and I'd hate for another thread to turn into a disagreement about whether there should or should not be smoking in bars, restaurants, casinos etc.

The point is, at least in the one case, there's been a clear negative economic impact.

[Drover]

In fairness, I think she was trying to provide anecdotal evidence that while there may be a negative impact in some sectors, there is a positive impact in others.

[computerguysd]

I don't think there's an argument that smoking bans help some businesses and hurt others.

The argument as I see it is, that overall, smoking bans have a negative econominc impact. Another argument is that private business should have the right to make their own decisions as to whether to allow smoking, or not.

[aragx6]

I think that in places that were far less smoker friendly when the law was passed did OK. Estimates are that 20% of Illinois residents smoke, far more than other states that have passed bans.

So I agree that some businesses in some places could probably see a boost, but seeing as MO is a very smoker friendly state, anything in direct competition on the Illinois side (esp. a place like a casino) was bound to have issues.

We'll have to really wait over the course of the next year or two to get a broader sense of the economic impact on Illinois businesses, either positive or negative. Likely, it will be a bit of both.

[Doug Bergren]

Hello All-Just a small observation regarding the smoking ban here in Illinois and the loss of business in some establishments.... I read throughout the thread, and nobody mentioned the weather and how that may have had an effect.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

That's a good point, but why would the weather keep people out of Alton's casino and not Missouri casinos?

I think the smoking ban had some effect, as did the economy, and St. Louis' new Lumiere Place.