HOW MUCH JOB AND TAX LOSS CAN BE EXPECTED FROM CASINO/VIDEO POKER SMOKING BAN?

On July 13 the Shreveport City Council will consider an amendment to the smoking ban ordinance that will exempt gaming facilities and bars with video poker.

There is opposition to the amendment from members of the tobacco prevention and health-care community. who say employees should be able to work in a smoke-free environment. They also want patrons of these businesses to have smoke-free options.

This group ignores many other factors that should be considered. Let’s begin with two of the most basic.

People are not forced to work at Sam’s Town or ElDorado casinos or at bars with video poker machines. This is a matter of free will and up to the individual.

Gaming patrons are not forced to visit Sam’s Town or ElDorado casinos or bars that have video poker machines. This is also a matter of free will and one of choice.

When the casino boats sailed into Shreveport in the 1990s, it was the first significant business in years to come to Shreveport. Many others had left or would soon leave, including AT&T, GE and later GM. There was very little on the horizon to make the local economic picture rosy.

Gaming entities invested millions into buildings, parking garages and hotels with attractive facilities. They hosted top-flight entertainment and events, drawing hundreds of thousands of gamblers to the Shreveport-Bossier riverfront. And they hired thousands of employees and did business with hundreds of local businesses and vendors, providing a huge “trickle down” effect.

Over the years, the casinos and video poker bars have been valuable tax-paying citizens putting tens of millions into city, parish, school board and state coffers through passenger boarding fees, hotel-motel occupancy taxes, sales and property taxes. These tax revenues are directly related to the volume of gaming/video parking dollars spent by patrons.

Both Shreveport casinos are “good neighbors” in the sense of supporting Shreveport nonprofit organizations. They have been very generous to a laundry list of nonprofits, donating money, goods and services, conference room and party space, hotel rooms, gift certificates and more. Sam’s Town recently donated $50,000 to the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank.

Smoking and alcohol consumption generally go hand-and-hand with gaming and video poker patrons. Put simply, most of these individuals want to smoke and drink while enjoying this pastime. That means they patronize facilities that allow these indulgences.

If the amendment to allow smoking at the casinos and video poker bars is not enacted, the Shreveport boats and video poker bars will be at a significant competitive disadvantage. This is going to hurt these businesses, and it is also going to hurt the city of Shreveport in terms of higher unemployment and lower tax revenues.

Officials with the two casinos recently briefed the Shreveport City Council members with industry information showing that non-smoking casinos suffered double-digit losses even when patrons had to drive 40 miles to go to another casino. It is not a stretch to believe the Shreveport casinos will lose even more patrons (and money) since smoking casinos are as close as a quick jaunt over the Texas Street Bridge to Bossier City.

This will not be a level playing field or a fair one. If Bossier would join Shreveport in a smoke-free ordinance, it would be an easy decision. Not surprisingly, all indications are that Bossier City will not entertain any such notion under any circumstances.
Shreveport casinos are fighting outside forces in the form of Oklahoma and Arkansas casinos along with the ever-encroaching Indian casinos.

Shreveport elected officials have enjoyed casino and bar video poker machine tax dollars since their arrival to support projects in their districts. And now they are, in effect, about to be stabbed in the back.