Smoking ban 'not turning Winnipeg gamblers away'

2008-05-30 16:19:30

Gamblers in Manitoba's capital Winnipeg are not being put off by a recently imposed smoking ban, new research has found.

BingoLingo.com representative Jeff Davis, who led a study by the website into which Canadian city loves the numbers game the most, made his suggestion to the Winnipeg Free Press.

"What was surprising is that Winnipeg's attendance hasn't seemed to drop off since smoking was banned," he told the publication.

Casinos and bingo halls across North America and the UK have all been damaged by smoking restrictions lately, with Atlantic City one of the places to be hit most recently.

In Britain, the Rank Group, which operates a chain of casinos and bingo clubs, was affected particularly badly by a ban brought in during summer 2007.

Winnipeg was found to have more places to play bingo per person than any of Canada's major cities, including Vancouver and Toronto.