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· Montana
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Jump to full article: Billings (MT) Gazette, 2009-11-22
Author: LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA Of The Gazette Staff
Intro: When Montana’s smoking ban went into full effect Oct. 1, it hit some businesses hard and left others virtually unscathed. In general, establishments that catered specifically to the gambling crowd suffered most.
“Some little bars did well, but some, absolutely no one’s coming in,” said Steve Arntzen, chief operating officer for Century Gaming. The Billings-based business accounts for 25 percent of the video gaming machines in Montana. “Where gaming is secondary, those places haven’t been impacted nearly as much.”
That general rule seems to have traction in the Billings region. At CJ’s on the West End, food takes center stage over its 21 gaming machines. Co-owner Dave Holland said the ban made barely a ripple there.
“Some weeks are up, some weeks are down,” he said. “But everything sure smells a lot better.”
The Sports Page on Broadwater, with 23 television sets but no video gaming machines, was one of the few that actually benefited from the ban.
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