Study finds that smoking ban had no effect on revenues
This is an excellent example of how anti-smokers lie with numbers. The first paragraph of the article says:
A smoking ban had no effect on restaurant and bar revenue, according to an analysis of tax records by the Bismarck Tobacco Free Coalition.
Note the wording – no effect on restaurants and bars. But what did they really measure?
Individual businesses were not studied, rather full-service restaurants only were placed in groups of five based on revenue. The five businesses that produced the most revenue were group one, and so-forth, to the five lowest revenue-generating restaurants.
Full service restaurants are often already non-smoking, and few cater to a smoking clientèle. They are usually not affected, or affected minimally, by smoking bans.
The study claims to have studied bars and restaurants, but in reality only looked at full service restaurants. The completely ignored bars, dinners, pool halls, bingo halls, clubs, – in other words, they intentionally left out the businesses that are harmed by bans.
And then they lie about it, saying they included bars, and implying that all types of of restaurants were studied.
This is typical nicotine nanny behavior. I have yet to see an honest study from their ilk.
Source: Bismark Tribune. Link
