And now they have a whiney ass legislator on their side;
“People aren’t coming and that’s just a fact of life. We’ve noticed it almost immediately in the middle of November when the smoking ban started,” Republican Senator Tom Nelson of Lead said.
Good. Gambling is a poor way to fund government anyway, and maybe we will be killing two birds with one stone.
Video lottery revenues in the state have fallen off nearly 20 percent since the ban passed. And, just in November officials say the casinos in Deadwood saw a $10 million drop in revenues, attributing the fall completely to the smoking ban.
Why not raise the state’s take? I have often said that if a majority of South Dakotans think gambling is okay, we should increase the state’s take to 70-80%. It has often amazed me that all of these legislators have come up with 9 million different ways to nickel and dime citizens in user fees but not one single one of them has suggested taking more from gambling.
“It’s not the economy. It’s not the weather. It’s not the holidays. We’re comparing Novembers to Novembers to Novembers,” Nelson said.
Yeah, Tom, because the economy has been just peachy. Video lottery revenue has been down all year, even before the ban. It is the economy, stupid.
“We don’t need a complete lift of the smoking ban. We just need some accommodations so customers have a place to go where they can continue to play their machines or be at the card table,” Nelson said.
Oh, so because they have card tables, they deserve to have smoking? But if you are some dive bar with VL machines you have to keep the ban? Silly. The ban should remain, for ALL establishments. The citizens voted in an overwhelming majority that they wanted this to happen. We have a clear mandate. Besides, this is not about patrons, it’s about workers. How many times do we have to go over this?
Will the legislature try to amend this? Probably. Just like abortion, there are a few knuckle heads in the legislature who think they know better then the majority of South Dakota voters. But remember this, these are the same guys who don’t pay property taxes, molest foster kids, launder money and run stop signs resulting in killing someone.
I DARE the legislature to challenge the will of the people.
Idiots. There are so many flaws in their line of thinking I don’t even know where to begin.
First they assume this November is the same as last November and the November before that as if the year and the smoking ban are the only variables. Yet every state that has a smoking ban has shown revenues actually go up after a short term decrease.
Second, they assume people won’t gamble if they can’t smoke. Why not assume more people would shop for groceries or attend city council meetings or take classes at the local community college if they can smoke too? Might as well open it up to smoking everywhere right?
Third, the voice of the people (who obviously are more well informed than idiot legislators from Lead) should be ignored because a politician who gets his back scratched by casino owners knows what is best for us.
Fourth, we shouldn’t let the ban have any time as law and we need to do everything in our power to repeal it as soon as possible before people actually notice that it is a good thing. Then again that seems to be the national motto of the GOP when it comes to healthcare reform, so Nelson is simply borrowing a page from their playbook on this one.
Here is an idea. If a legislator turns out to be an idiot, I propose voters from every other district other than their home district can vote to pull them out of office and ban them from every South Dakota political office for LIFE.
I like that idea. A lot.
Video lottery revenue is down because we gamblers got luckier over the last year.
Another reason for the down turn could be the crappy weather we are having. When we have actual winter weather I don’t go anyplace that isn’t a complete necessity.
The SD Constitution prohibits the legislature from making ANY modifications to a referred law for a MINIMUM of one year. So – this is 100% bluster. They can’t legally do anything until 11/11.
I’ve heard that too. But I wonder if that means they can’t repeal the entire thing until 11/11?
Does anyone know if SD allows amending certain parts?
It would be political suicide to vote to repeal it now. Besides, most of the legislature supports the ban as was shown when they passed it originally. Those that don’t support it are typically connected to Deadwood or phonebooth Casinos in some manner.
But when over 60% of the voters want something, it would be incredibly stupid to go against their wishes and tell them they aren’t smart enough to make decisions which impact their lives or the lives of those around them.
I guess that is one way to enact even stricter term limits, because anyone who would vote to repeal the ban would be on their way out in the next election.
Not really. He is probably hearing from his constituents in Deadwood that it is hurting business.
Smoking can be replaced with something else. How about legislation authorizing lottery casinos (only) to sell medical marijuana or have nude dancers?
Better yet. Both.