Gaming briefs for June 11, 2003

Wednesday, June 11, 2003 | 11:22 a.m.

Bars to unplug lottery machines in protest

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Angered by the anti-smoking law that takes effect this summer, a coalition of bar and restaurant owners planned a second round of protests by unplugging their lottery machines to deprive the state of lottery sales.

About 350 owners turned off their Quick Draw machines last month, costing the state $682,413 in sales, said Carolyn Hapeman, a lottery spokeswoman.

Another protest is planned for next Monday and will last a week to coincide with the end of the legislative session, said Scott Wexler of the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association.

"We're working very hard to get some relief before the end of session," Wexler said.

Wexler said it was not immediately known how many bar and restaurant owners will participate.

Restaurant and bar owners receive a 6-cent commission on every dollar spent on Quick Draw. During the first protest, retailers lost $41,945 in commissions.

The smoking ban takes effect July 24 in virtually all businesses including bars, certain restaurants, betting parlors, bowling alleys and pool halls. In recent weeks, tavern owners have lobbied lawmakers to relax the law by allowing bars and restaurants to have separate smoking rooms.

Travel to LV down 1.5 percent in April

A drop in convention business in April resulted in Las Vegas visitor volume falling 1.5 percent that month compared with the same period a year ago.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported Tuesday that 2.9 million people visited Las Vegas in April compared with 3 million in April 2002.

Kevin Bagger, who heads the LVCVA's research division, said leisure travel to Las Vegas was strong for the month with tourist room occupancies up 11.1 percent to 2.3 million people. But convention traffic was off due to scheduling and calendar differences from the previous year.

"Some of the larger shows we had in 2002 weren't here this year," Bagger said. "That kind of seasonality is the nature of the convention business, so that's why we don't put as much stock in the month-over-month totals."

Bagger said the National Council of Teachers and the McDonald's Corp. were among the large conventions and trade shows that were in Las Vegas in April 2002, but not this year, and the International Wireless Expo occurred in March this year, but April last year.

The LVCVA also reported that hotel and motel room occupancy was down 1.3 points to 86 percent in April and the average daily room rate was down 0.7 percent to $83.42 compared with the same month a year ago.

Visitor volume was up for Mesquite, but down for Laughlin. The LVCVA said volume was up 2.4 percent to 142,486 in Mesquite, northeast of Las Vegas, and down 7.3 percent to 357,649 people in Laughlin on the Colorado River south of Las Vegas.

Laughlin, which attracts more California visitors, was affected by increased competition from Indian casinos in Southern California.