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Smoking Ban to Hurt Ontario Casino Revenues

ONTARIO – As reported by the Windsor Star: "An internal government prediction that gaming revenues will sink by $250 million to $350 million annually once the province's smoking ban goes into effect bodes ill for Windsor, a critic of the ban says.

"On Wednesday, mychoice.ca, a smoker's rights group funded by the tobacco industry, released a series of briefing notes written in 2004 to the Minister of Economic Development and Trade Joe Cordiano. Acquired with an Access to Information request, the notes say:

"- Municipal non-smoking bylaws in jurisdictions like Ottawa (which has racetrack slots) and Brantford (with a charity casino) had already resulted in $131 million in lost revenue;

"…- Overall drop in gaming revenue is estimated at 20 per cent, or $250 million to $350 million annually;

"…Casino Windsor spokeswoman Holly Ward said it's too early to speculate on potential job losses at the 4,000-employee casino…"

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