Entertainment Group Ltd., New Zealand's biggest casino operator, had their biggest drop in almost five years as the company cut its profit forecast because of a smoking ban and government rules to control gambling, according to this Bloomberg.com article.
Apparently New Zealand has joined other parts of the world in restricting smoking in bars and restaurants. (In California where I am at it was quite a while ago we implemented this law.) The new wrinkle here is that they have also banned smoking IN CASINOS.
Maybe that is what we need to do to help compulsive gamblers? Keep us smoking! I do not personally partake, and was glad when the local casinos here started offering non-smoking sections, but I definitely know a lot of fellow gamblers that gotta have that cigarette while playing!
The article also points out that new restrictions on the size of bills allowed in machines, an effort to control problem gambling, also has had some effect on revenues. I somehow doubt this type of restriction has stopped many of the true compulsive gamblers from feeding their addiction. Ever hear in a casino "Changing $100.00"? Thought so. Also, the restriction appears to be only temporary as they are installing new readers to accept larger denomination "tickets" to replace the large bills.
Oh well. They tried.
John
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