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Objective: As part of the Smoke-Free Illinois Act, smoking on the gambling floors of all commercial casinos in Illinois became prohibited. This study examined the effects of the Smoke-Free Illinois Act on casino admissions per-capita and real per-capita adjusted gross receipts using 18 years of data (10 years before and 8 years after the Illinois law went into effect)., Methods: We employed a difference-in-difference regression technique using monthly data for the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri and control for numerous determinants expected to affect casino admissions and revenue., Results: The Smoke-free Illinois Act was found not to be a statistically significant determinant of per-capita casino admissions and of real per-capita gross adjusted receipts in all the models we estimated., Conclusions: The estimates from this study clearly indicated that the Illinois law that banned smoking in casinos has had no significant negative economic consequences for casinos in terms of per-capita admissions or revenues., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Background: Physical activity (PA) is associated with health and academic benefits among children, but many schools do not meet national recommendations. This study examined school-based PA practices in nationally representative samples of public elementary schools, and geographic variations in those practices., Methods: Mail-back surveys were used to gather data from 578 public elementary schools during the 2006-2007 school year and 680 public elementary schools during the 2009-2010 school year., Results: Nationwide, only 1 in 5 schools met the national recommendation of at least 150 minutes of physical education (PE) per week, although PE was more prevalent in the South. Nearly three-fourths of schools nationwide met recommendations for 20 or more minutes of recess daily, and this was more prevalent in the Midwest but less so in the South. Approximately 40% of schools offered sports and approximately 40% offered other opportunities for PA during the school day. The only practice that increased over time was formal classroom instruction on PA., Conclusions: There has been little change in elementary school-based PA practices nationwide in recent years. With the upcoming renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, policymakers have an important opportunity to promote increased PA in schools., (© 2012, American School Health Association.)

Objective: To determine whether state policies that regulate beverages in schools are associated with reduced in-school access and purchase of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and reduced consumption of SSBs (in and out of school) among adolescents., Design: Cross-sectional., Setting: Public schools in 40 states., Participants: Students sampled in fifth and eighth grades (spring 2004 and 2007, respectively)., Main Exposures: State policies that ban all SSBs and state policies that ban only soda for 2006-2007., Main Outcome Measures: In-school SSB access, in-school SSB purchasing behavior, and overall SSB consumption (in and out of school) in eighth grade., Results: The proportions of eighth-grade students who reported in-school SSB access and purchasing were similar in states that banned only soda (66.6% and 28.9%, respectively) compared with states with no beverage policy (66.6% and 26.0%, respectively). In states that banned all SSBs, fewer students reported in-school SSB access (prevalence difference, -14.9; 95% CI, -23.6 to -6.1) or purchasing (-7.3; -11.0 to -3.5), adjusted for race/ethnicity, poverty status, locale, state obesity prevalence, and state clustering. Results were similar among students who reported access or purchasing SSBs in fifth grade compared with those who did not. Overall SSB consumption was not associated with state policy; in each policy category, approximately 85% of students reported consuming SSBs at least once in the past 7 days. Supplementary analyses indicated that overall consumption had only a modest association with in-school SSB access., Conclusion: State policies that ban all SSBs in middle schools appear to reduce in-school access and purchasing of SSBs but do not reduce overall consumption.

Objective: To examine the differential associations of cigarette retail marketing practices on youth smoking uptake., Design: Analyses from annual, nationally representative, cross-sectional surveys of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in the United States., Setting: The February 1999 through June 2003 Monitoring the Future surveys involved 109,308 students and data on retail cigarette marketing collected from 966 communities in which the students reside, as part of the Bridging the Gap Initiative: Research Informing Practice and Policy for Healthy Youth Behavior., Participants: A total of 26,301 students were selected for this study., Main Exposures: Point-of-sale advertising, promotions, prices, and placement., Outcome Measure: Using a smoking uptake measure to account for stages that identify the process by which adolescents begin smoking, we calculated odds ratios and confidence intervals through generalized ordered logit analyses, with weighted data that controlled for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and accounted for clustering at the community level., Results: Higher levels of advertising, lower cigarette prices, and greater availability of cigarette promotions were associated with smoking uptake. Advertising increased the likelihood of youth initiating smoking, price increased the likelihood of smoking at most levels of uptake, and availability of promotions increased the likelihood that youth will move from experimentation to regular smoking., Conclusions: Cigarette retail marketing practices increase the likelihood of smoking uptake. These findings suggest that specific restrictions on retail cigarette marketing may reduce youth smoking.