Not just in Windsor, Ontario, did the casinos lose business because of the smoke free rule coming into effect. When Ontario went to an all smoke free rule, the immediate drop in casino business was very evident. The other two larger casinos began to lay off employees and kept many tables closed. For a while, Casino Rama, 75 miles north of Toronto, kept to a half smoking, half non smoking setutp, as it was on Indian land, and they were not forced to go all non smoking. In time, though, they also adopted a completely non smoking policy as had the two casinos in Niagara Falls. Both have smoking areas outside of the casino, with heated areas for winter (which don't really protect us from the cold wintry winds), but I'm sure they realize that by not having smokers at the tables or slots for twenty or thirty minutes (and having the tables' seats reserved for those players) they are losing the betting time that the players may have otherwise spent on the tables. It's even more apparent in the high stakes rooms, where players are absent from the tables to go outside instead of staying and smoking at their game.
Yet directly across the Niagara River, in Bufallo, N.Y., the Seneca Casino, within view of the casinos in Niagara, has both smoking and non smoking areas, and hasn't lost any business because of that issue.

bj-21.