A survey of Lake of the Torches Resort Casino patrons found over half of them would visit the casino on a more regular basis if it was smoke-free. Twenty percent said they wouldn’t, but approximately 75 percent of the casino’s patrons don’t smoke, according to the survey.
The casino is owned by the Lac du Flambeau Band. Tribal sovereignty gives the band freedom to allow cigarette smoking in their casinos and that includes casinos in states with smoking bans.
Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council in Wisconsin administered the survey in 2011 from April to August and interviewed 1,000 customers who belong to the casino’s players club.
Isaiah Brokenleg of the council said he hopes data from the survey will prompt Midwest casinos to go smoke-free. The council is willing to assist tribes in the effort.
“I think casinos are really afraid of losing revenue and if you remember when the smoke-free law for Minnesota was about to be passed, all the bars and restaurants were freaking out thinking the sky was gonna fall. Those businesses actually made more money,” he said.
In Colorado, the National Cancer Institute found 911 calls for an ambulance were down 20 percent as casinos there transitioned to no smoking facilities, beginning in 2008.
