DEADWOOD — The sights, sounds and smells of Deadwood could change if South Dakota voters snuff out smoking in all public places, including casino floors.
Opponents of the smoking ban argue the state could stand to lose millions in gambling revenue if smokers stay home or cut their visits short to Deadwood’s commercial
But on a recent evening, smokers and nonsmokers were split on how a smoking ban would affect the leisure destination.
At the Franklin Hotel, Lorrie Papka of Sioux Falls and her best friend, Vicki Opp, who recently moved to North Dakota from Newcastle, Wyo., did not see eye to eye on the ban.
Opp, a smoker, said Deadwood is one of the last fun, unregulated places to go and that being able to have a cigarette at a slot machine is an important part of the experience.
“People that smoke want to come out, relax, have a good time. If that’s with a drink and a cigarette, I think it will affect business,” she said. “People don’t want to stand outside in the cold and smoke.”
If the smoking ban passes, Opp said she would be less likely to come to Deadwood, and Papka said she won’t be standing outside with her friend, either.
But, Papka said: “It wouldn’t stop me from coming here. I don’t like smoke.”
Matt Strand and Kyndra Hollenbeck of Black Hawk said from their experience, smokers tend to adjust to smoking bans.
The couple just moved to South Dakota from Nebraska, where a smoking ban went into effect in 2009. That evening, Strand was finishing his cigarette outside Saloon No. 10, even though they both knew he could take it inside.
“I just got used to it,” Strand said of smoking outside.
In Nebraska, people talked a lot about how the ban would kill bar and restaurant business, but standing outside for a cigarette has become a “social thing” for smokers, Hollenbeck said. A
former bartender, she does not miss smelling like smoke all the time.
“All you have to do is walk into a bar for five minutes, and you smell like you’ve been there for hours,” Hollenbeck said.
Strand agreed the smoking ban there was a “minor inconvenience” at the beginning, but he doubted a similar measure would affect business in Deadwood.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing overall,” Strand said. “People are still going to go to the bar whether they smoke or not.”
But Rocky Orr, who smoked outside the Silverado as he took a phone call, said he would just go straight home from work if he couldn’t enjoy a cigarette at his hometown bars in North Dakota.
“This is a bad habit, but we all hang out, have some suds and smoke,” Orr said. “It’s going to affect business.”
The same would apply to Deadwood, he said, because smoking and drinking and gambling “go together.”
“If a waitress can’t handle the smoke, don’t work there,” Orr said. “We have rights.”
Bill and Patsy Locken of Spearfish are frequent visitors to Deadwood and were playing the slots at the Franklin Hotel with their friends Bob and Laura Weisz of Mitchell.
“It would be better for me,” Laura Weisz said of the smoking ban. “I just got done saying it was too smoky in here.”
Like many nonsmokers in Deadwood, though, the sometimes hazy atmosphere at the casinos does not affect their decision to play.
“But when we’re here, we’d sure like nonsmoking,” Bill Locken said. “I’ve gotten up and left if someone is smoking next to me.”
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