Public Opinion Poll (Public Intercept Survey) Results – A public opinion poll survey was conducted with casino patrons and visitors to the business districts of the five main cities in the county. From March to June 2010, over 350 people were asked to take the survey, but only 202 actually visit casinos in Groundhog County and therefore completed the entire survey. Highlights of the results are presented below.

Most respondents, (84%) and their households (81%) were nonsmokers. Sixty-five percent (131) said they would visit casinos more often and 32% (65) would visit with the same frequency if facilities were smoke free. Only 7% (14) said they would come less often as a result.

These promising statistics were not reflected, however, in their stated support for various smoke free policy options. A slim majority, 105 of 202 (52%), of respondents agreed that casinos should be smoke free. A slightly smaller number, 79 (39%), felt there should be a smoke free gaming section in casinos. Only one person felt that casinos should offer a smoke free night once a week. Eight people (4%) did not support any smoke free option at all. Given the rather high proportion of respondents that are nonsmokers, it is somewhat surprising that more did not support smoke free propositions. Further investigation is needed to understand why this might be.

The majority of respondents (76.6%) visited a casino less than once a month, 9.9% visited a casino at least once a month, and 13.3% visited a casino at least once a week.

Knowing that casinos would be interested to know how the responses of frequent patrons might differ from those who visit less frequently, we performed cross tabulations to explore the relationships between frequency and smoking status as well as support for smoke free options. As we expected, we found that patrons who came every week were more likely to be smokers and less supportive of smoke free policies. This had serious implications for promoting policies to the casinos.

Follow up key informant interviews with casino management found that while casinos market to and seek to increase the numbers of both groups, they see their bread and butter coming from patrons who visit several times a month and they don’t want to do anything that might drive these valued customers away. So if the bulk of these patrons are smokers, casinos are cautious in upsetting the balance of accommodating the smoking habits of core customers in favor of a larger pool but less frequent visitors who tend to be nonsmokers.

Cross tab analysis also showed that core patrons tended to be older (mean of 50.3 years) than infrequent patrons (mean of 42.8 years) and that a higher percentage of them were White non-hispanics (62%) than in the larger group (51%). Also, the proportion of Native Americans who smoked (28%) was higher than for other racial groups, which was not unexpected given the role tobacco has in their culture.

Example adapted from Mendocino County 2010 FER
CASINO SMOKING SURVEY

March 2010

We are doing a survey of casino patrons on the topic of cigarette smoking. Please help us by answering a few questions. It will only take a couple minutes.

Simply choose ONE answer for each question.

1. Do you visit any casinos in Groundhog County?
____Yes ____No (if no, then end survey)
2. Which casino listed below do you visit most often?
____Red Fox Casino (Waterville)
____Coyote Valley Casino (Redwood Valley)
____Sherwood Valley Casino (Slumberland)
____Hidden Oaks Casino (Coppola)
____Shodakai Casino (Happyland)
____Hickory Creek Casino
3. How often do you visit that casino?
____At least once a week
____At least once a month
____At least once a year
____One time only
4. What is the one, main reason that you go to this casino?
____Gambling
____Bingo
____Entertainment
____Dining and buffet
____Other (specify)______/ 5. Do you know if this casino allows smoking on the premises?
____Yes ____No
6. Which one of the following statements do you agree with most?
____The whole casino should be smoke free.
____The casino should have a smoke-free gaming section.
____The casino should have one night a week when the casino is smoke free.
____None of the above
7. Would you visit the casino more often, less often or about the same if the facility was smoke free?
____More often
____Less often
____About the same
8. Do you smoke tobacco?
____Yes ____No
9.  Does anyone else in your household smoke tobacco?
____Yes ____No ____Not applicable
The following questions are optional. You do not have to answer them if you prefer not to. / For Office Use Only
10. What is your gender? ____Male ____Female
11. What is your age?
__21-30 __31-50 __51-65 __66+
12. What is your race?
__African American __Asian/Pacific Islander
__Hispanic __Native American
__White/Non-Hispanic __ Other ______Other______/ 13. Date: Time:
14. Interviewer Name:
15. Comments:

Thank you for taking a few minutes to share your opinions!