CSBJ Daily

Can a casino also be a cigar bar and permit customers to smoke?

Mark Murphy and Mike Chaput, owners of Bronco Billy’s casino in Cripple Creek, think so.

Colorado law prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants and casinos. However, if an establishment has sold more than $50,000 in tobacco products each year since 2005, it can be considered a “cigar bar” and allow smoking.

Murphy and Chaput say they meet the criteria and will permit smoking in about 25 percent of the casino starting today. Smoking areas will be separated by curtains designed to absorb smoke.

“We’ve always known that we qualified as a cigar-tobacco bar, and we thought long and hard about whether to permit smoking in our establishment,” Murphy said. “We waited for our first quarter results, which were off 10 percent from the previous year, and we made the decision to go ahead. 75 percent of the casino will remain non-smoking, so we’ll be able to accommodate all of our customers.”

Stephanie Steinberg, the chairperson of Smoke-free Gaming of Colorado, which supported the state legislature’s decision earlier this year to prohibit smoking in casinos, disagrees with Bronco Billy’s decision.

“I find it interesting that Bronco Billy’s has suddenly found out that they’re not a casino, but a cigar bar,” she said. “Casinos by law are required to be non-smoking. They’re blatantly and deliberately breaking the law.”

Steinberg said she believes the matter will have to be solved legislatively.