The WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa, owned and operated by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, recently established the first non-smoking room in any casino in Western Iowa. The room features 70 slots. Marketing Director Travis Morgan said, “So many people out there love to gamble and hate cigarette smoke. We’ve given WinnaVegas a big room with 70 slot machines where you can come, gamble and not have to worry cigarette smoke, cigar smoke, pipe smoke, nothing. People love this because this is what they’ve been waiting for a long time.”
Morgan added, “We have something that nobody else really has. It’s the exact same gaming experience and you’re not going to miss a beat. It’s just an option that you have now at WinnaVegas that we hope is going to bring a core group of people to us because we’re the only ones that have something like this.” Morgan said he expects the non-smoking room will attract gamblers from other casinos that do not offer a smoke-free option.
Casino maintenance staff set up the room in just three days. Although it is open to the main casino area where smoking is allowed, many guests have commented on the difference between the two rooms, Morgan said.
When Iowa’s Smokefree Air Act took effect July 1, 2008, casino gaming floors were exempted. The law bans smoking in public places such as bars, restaurants, and businesses and lawmakers consistently promote bills that would eliminate casinos’ exemptions. However, officials at state-licensed casinos claim a smoking ban on the gaming floor would create a competitive disadvantage.
Iowa Gaming Association President Wes Ehrecke said the state’s 18 commercial casinos potentially could lose up to 30 percent of their revenue if smoking were banned. He added that would lower the amount of state taxes casinos pay annually and also could lead to a substantial loss of casino jobs.
WinnaVegas, the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska’s BlackBird Bend Casino near Onawa and the Sac & Fox Tribe of Mississippi in Iowa’s Meskwaki Bingo & Casino are not state licensed and therefore not subject to state laws and regulations.
