We bring you info and reviews on the best online casino sites.
No smoking laws need to be a fair playing-field says Calgary casinos. Faced with slumping profits, two Calgary gaming companies want the province to close a loophole in the smoking ban that permits gamblers to light up on First Nation casinos.
Gamehost Income Fund, which owns the Deerfoot Inn and Casino, reported last week that it made nearly a million dollars less in the second quarter of 2008 — a slide of more than five per cent compared to last year.
Sam Switzer, who owns the Elbow River Casino, estimates his profits are down by at least 25 per cent. Both blame at least part of the problem on the fact First Nations casinos can still welcome smokers in their facilities, despite a province wide smoking ban imposed on Jan. 1. The discrepancy has dealt traditional casino owners an unfair hand, said Gamehost’s chief executive.
After Alberta’s smoking ban took effect, both the Tsuu T’ina Nation, which opened the $40-million Grey Eagle Casino last December, and the Stoney Nakoda Nation, which launched the $60-million Nakoda Entertainment Resort in the spring, invoked federal bylaw exemptions for Native lands.
That let both First Nations avoid the provincial Tobacco Reduction Act, which bans smoking in all public places and workplaces, including bars, casinos and bingo halls.
While Stoney band officials and executives from the company managing its casino declined to comment, Tsuu T’ina band council member Darryl Crowchild said the council would wait to meet and discuss the issue before commenting. Officials with the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, which oversees gambling in the province, said they would prefer to see the two First Nations casinos follow the rest of the province’s lead.
Les Hagen, executive director for anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health, said the province should use diplomacy to get smoking out of the Native casinos. In Manitoba, for example, the government struck a deal giving one of its two Aboriginal-owned gambling facilities 300 slot machines in exchange for an agreement to go smoke-free. I can’t help but feel the Canadian government is walking on egg-shells with this issue because of political correctness and their fear of upsetting the First Nations.