The Scotsman - Business - Pubs are surviving the ban but it's eyes down for smoking gamblers

re: Martin Flanagan reporting: "IT IS still early days but a medley of trading results yesterday suggest the smoking ban, to be extended from Scotland to England and Wales this summer, may well hit cigarette companies and bingo hall operators more than pub groups...[snip]...The bingo halls get hit by a double-whammy from the ban. Some smokers just stop going to play at all, their enjoyment sharply impaired by knowing they cannot smoke. /And the diehard smokers who do go take the breaks in-between the main bingo games as a chance to nip outside for a puff. /This is crucial in business terms because, while having this cigarette outside, the punters are not playing fruit machines or higher-margin games during the main bingo game intervals. /Industry experts say these can normally provide bingo clubs with anywhere between 50 to 70 per cent of their revenues. This, then, is a really significant change in the bingo hall business model..."...