Is it a good idea to ban smoking in casinos?:

If you want casinos and the state to lose hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe:

Smoking was banned in all Illinois casinos in January 2008. We explore the effects that the smoking ban has had on Illinois casino revenue and attendance. Our empirical methodology extends and enhances that of previous literature in that we observe a natural experiment in comparing the performance of Illinois casinos with out-of-state casinos (no smoking ban) that share a market with Illinois casinos. Estimates suggest that revenue and admissions at Illinois casinos declined by more than 20 percent ($400 million) and 12 percent, respectively. Calculations reveal that casino tax revenue to state and local governments declined by approximately $200 million.

Source: “Casino Revenue and the Illinois Smoking Ban” from “Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Working Paper Series”