“Manitoba Lotteries Corp. will give severance packages to 269 workers — a move the corporation says is necessary because of Winnipeg’s tough smoking ban.

The ban is expected to drain at least $50-million annually from the lottery corporation’s coffers

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WINNEPEG, Manitoba – As reported by the Canadian Press: “Manitoba Lotteries Corp. will give severance packages to 269 workers — a move the corporation says is necessary because of Winnipeg’s tough smoking ban.

“The ban is expected to drain at least $50-million annually from the lottery corporation’s coffers…”

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A Lakewood, Wash., casino (with restaurant and bar) has laid off 15 employees since the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health’s new smoking regulations went into effect in earnest Feb. 26. Managers say they will lay off 40 to 50 more if the business slump, which they blame on the ban, continues.

“My tips have gone down from $70 or $80 a day to less than $20,” Tracy Willows said at the end of her shift, when she is shaking her head at the 20 bucks — if she’s lucky — in her pocket and wondering if her pay will be enough to fill her gas tank, much less put food on the table or buy gym uniforms for her two kids.

Source: In-Forum.com. Link Expired

Tukwila Washington

Let me choose a real person for you at random. How about my waitress here in the Ripe Tomato Bar & Grill at the Grand Central Casino? Let me introduce you to Tracy Willows. She’s one of the lucky ones.

The single mother of two young children, a former smoker, drives in from Enumclaw for the day shift. Before the smoking ban, she worked 38 hours a week - enough to qualify for the casino’s medical and dental benefits - and walked away with $75 a day in tips.

Since the ban started in January, the casino has had to slowly cut her hours to 21 per week, not enough to qualify for benefits. On a good day, she said, she’ll make $25 in tips.

(These are the people the nicotine nannies claim they’re helping.)

Source: Tribnet.com. Link Expired

To see how well the smoking ban here is working out, join Tracy Willows at the end of her shift, when she is shaking her head at the 20 bucks — if she’s lucky — in her pocket and wondering if her pay will be enough to fill her gas tank, much less put food on the table or buy gym uniforms for her two kids.

“I can’t even pay my rent. My parents have been making my car payments for me, but they can’t do that anymore,” she said this week from a booth at the Grand Central Casino, where she is a waitress.

This casino has laid off 15 employees since the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health’s new smoking regulations went into effect in earnest Feb. 26. And managers say they will lay off 40 to 50 more if the business slump, which they blame on the ban, continues.

“My tips have gone down from $70 or $80 a day to less than $20,” Willows said.

Other bar and restaurant owners say they have fired employees or cut back hours because of sudden drops in revenue.

The Grand Central Casino in Lakewood says its gambling take since Feb. 26 is down 35 percent from what it had projected. Its liquor sales dropped by 42 percent, and its food sales are down 25 percent, said regional manager Greg Bakamis.

In contrast, the company’s casino in Tukwila, King County, which allows smoking, has met or exceeded projections during the same period.

In the meantime, Dawn Forsman, a card dealer at Freddie’s Casino in Fife, says her job is on the line. She told the Board of Health this week that her pay has been cut in half during the ban.

“How many people have to lose their cars and their jobs and their homes before you see that trying to protect my health is endangering my livelihood?” she said.

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PIERCE COUNTY - Pierce County casinos say the county’s new smoking ban is costing them money and could cost jobs. So, they’re fighting the ban in court.

Grand Central Casino in Lakewood says too many tables are empty; too many dealers have nothing to do. They blame Pierce County’s 2-week-old smoking ban, and they’re already talking layoffs.

And casino workers say they know exactly where their customers are going: They’re heading five minutes away to tribal casinos, which don’t have to obey the county smoking ban.

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