It’s been a decade since former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed Act 12 into law, banning smoking in bars, restaurants and workplaces. Michael Fiore, founder and director of the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, said, “The smoking ban is one of the foundation stones that have contributed to declining smoking in Wisconsin.”
Native American casinos are exempt from the smoking ban due to tribal sovereignty. Doyle said he thought the tribes would voluntarily enforce the measure. But Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison remains the only smoke-free casino in the state. Missy Tracy, municipal relations coordinator for the casino, said despite an initial drop in revenue when the casino went smoke-free in 2015, the financial impact has been positive. “We hung in there, stuck it out and shortly after the first year of being smoke-free, we started to see our revenue actually do better than where it was when we were a smoking facility,” she said.
Tracy said casino officials decided to ban smoking after a guest survey indicated an overwhelming majority wanted to gamble in a smoke-free environment. The facility is now the most profitable Ho-Chunk casino in terms of net gaming revenue.
But several tribes remain reluctant to go completely smoke-free. Tribal officials said the success at Madison would not automatically carry over to more rural areas of the state where the clientele is used to smoking while gaming. However, Bobbi Webster, director of public relations for the Oneida Nation, said those concerns have to be balanced with creating a comfortable environment for visitors who don’t smoke.
“The compromise has been to create smoke-free environments within the casino so that customers have the opportunity to sit and play and entertain themselves in areas where there’s no smoking allowed,” she said.
Oneida Nation casinos installed air filtration systems to minimize smoke. , About half of Wisconsin’s tribal casinos also have designated smoke-free areas on their gaming floors.
Doyle said he believes those measures are “more sizzle than steak. None of that stuff ever worked. Restaurants tried to do it and others over the years and it just isn’t very effective.”
