OLYMPIA, WA – Even with a smoking ban in most public places and a boost in the state’s cigarette excise tax, it appears to be business as usual in Washington.

The Associated Press notes that in the first three months of 2006, "52.5 million packs of legally taxed cigarettes were sold, slightly more than the 52.4 million packs sold in the first quarter of 2005," according to the Washington Department of Revenue. Washington has the third-highest cigarette excise tax rate in the nation at $2.025 per pack, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators.

Tobacco industry officials and some state officials “expected” that smokers would respond to the public ban and excise tax increase by purchasing cigarettes illegally over the Internet or on Indian reservations. Instead, the state is poised to collect $438.2 million in cigarette tax revenue notes the AP.

Mike Gowrylow, a spokesman for the state Revenue Department, commented that the figures “may reflect tougher action” against illegal Internet sales and compacts with Indian tribes to collect cigarettes excise taxes “at about the same rates as off the reservations.”

“It's a 'we're still not sure what it means' kind of thing,” Gowrylow said.