On July 16th, 2008, Hall County Keno game bets dropped by thirty-two percent in June 2008- a slide officials are pointing to the new smoking ban in Grand Island. Hall County Keno administrator Stacey Ruzicka said that she first think that it is just a reaction to the smoking ban. Betting in May was at $551,000. But in June 2008, the receipts slide down to $375,000. Brent Lindner, the owner of the Bonzai Beach Club said that the smoking ban did not help it, but it was declining already. Lindner believes that the keno profits were affected by the fuel and food costs.
Ruzicka and Otto, the general manager of Fonner Keno, recently talked about the drop and both concluded that the smoking ban has a big effect on keno profits. Ruzicka added that she and Otto had both expected an initial dropped in keno receipts once the June 1st, 2008 citywide smoking ban was enforced, but neither of them expected a big drop. Grand Island's smoking ban prohibits people from smoking in public areas especially in work places. Its smoking ban was modeled on the smoking ban in Lincoln.
Ruzicka commented that in the case of the game of keno, betting always changes, but not like the thirty-two percent slide recorded from May to June 2008. Just last year, May betting reached around $517,000 and betting in June 2007 was at $481,000 or a 7% drop. Betting this year was actually on full swing before the smoking ban was enforced.
Gross receipts were up by six percent for the year from $6 million in 2006-2007(July 1st to June 30th) to $6.4 million in 2007-2008. The 2006-2007 betting produced $317,500 of keno profits each for Hall County and the city of Grand Island. The betting year just ended grossed around $6.4 million but netted $298,000 each for the city and county.
[05-08]
John Sullivan
