Smoking bans don't hurt charities.

• Author: Smith, Daniel E.
• Position: LETTERS - Letter to the editor

Editor:

Your brief Stateline item claiming that smoke-free policies drive down charity bingo profits ("Charity Profits Up in Smoke," July/August issue) is misleading.

Peer-reviewed studies consistently find that smoke-free laws do not adversely affect charitable bingo profits. A 2003 study analyzing 16 years of charitable bingo economic trends before and after local smoke-free laws went into effect in Massachusetts found that charitable bingo profits began declining before Massachusetts communities started going smoke-free, and that there was no effect on bingo revenues in communities with smoke-free laws. A similar 2008 study conducted by the University of Kentucky found no economic effect of smoke-free laws on bingo revenues in 13 Kentucky communities. Finally, according to the Washington State...