Nicotine Nannies claim smoking bans are good for business. But if that were the case, could this list exist, and could it be so huge? (Please note, this is only a small sample of articles available on the subject.)
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While all this was going on I went back to the people who made the second offer and asked them if they still wished to buy Billy’s Inn. If so make me an offer. It is well known by now that there was going to be a ban. An all inclusive ban. In April of 2006 the people who made the second offer came back with an offer of $600,000.00. We just lost $225,000.00 due to the ban.
First off we stopped taking wages and started using our savings to live on. Then we re-wrote the mortgage on our house and opened a home equity line of credit.
Six months into the ban our business had dropped off by 41%.
By November of 2006 we had to drop our Liquor License Insurance (Dram shop), because we could no longer afford it. At the end of our fiscal year the business was down by 26%. The ban had been in effect for only 4 out of 12 months.
Our adjusted gross income for 2006 was $914.00.
We went from a comfortable life style to zero in less than a year.
In 2007 we saw our business continue to fall off. We sold off other property at a loss and used the money to go on. We dropped our property insurance because we could no longer afford to pay that. We ran the last year of business without any insurance of any kind.
On January the first we celebrated our 40th. Anniversary at Billy’s Inn. My wife’s father ran it for 19 years. In 1985 I left the unions because I was tired of rebels dictating policy in my life. I swore no one would ever dictate policy in my life again. I started running the business in 1985 for my father-in-law. In 1987 we took over the business and have been there ever since. Twenty three years down the drain. I am now sixty two years old and I have to find a job till I can retire at sixty six. Little did I know that the next rebel would be in our own legislature.
After the sale of the business our government taxed us 21% on what we could sell.
Then our government penalized us 25% because we retired three years to soon.
Since closing. One of my bartenders has a wife and four children. He has been homeless since the spring of 2008. In February of 2009 they got into a two bedroom apartment. With four children that is real cozy.
One of the other bartenders, (An unwed mother of two), is also now losing her home. Her new job at Walgreen’s does not pay what she received as a bartender.
Another had a killing outside the bar while they were smoking. Two families destroyed by the smoking ban. There was no bartender or owner outside to intervene.
63 bars, 478 employees, 1 casino, 62 employees, 2 nightclubs, 46 employees, 1 bowling alley, 3 pool halls, and 16 bingo halls all closed. Number of employees un-known.
Venders such as Fender Entertainment gone. Lisa Fender booked entertainment for bars and taverns. Businesses could not afford the entertainment venues so it cost her the business.
In 2006 there were 44 bingo halls, now there are 28 left. The non-profits, who could least afford it, are the biggest losers. The losses are in the millions.
What ever happened to love thy neighbor? Or live and let live. Is this truly the American way?
The anti-smoking movement has blown into El Segundo’s Park Vista, one of the South Bay’s few publicly owned senior housing facilities. Lighting up in common areas already is illegal, and a prohibition on puffing in private residences is soon to follow.
The province’s take from VLTs continues to slide, with gaming officials and bar owners saying smoking bans could be a factor.
And the province has made allowances for bars hosting VLTs whose machine revenues might be undermined by butting-out laws.
Revenue from VLTs in 2008-09 are forecast to fall $60 million from the province’s prediction earlier this year to $619 million.
That’s down from $703 million in 2007-08 and $735 million the year before that.
Machines are located in bars and lounges, which were forced to adhere to earlier smoking prohibitions in Calgary and Edmonton and a blanket provincial ban a year ago. It’s hard to explain the trend, said Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission spokeswoman Lynn Hutchings-Mah, adding a butt ban could be a factor.
“If you have a smoking ban or a cold snap, that could drive business down,” she said.
Calgary’s two-year-old smoking ban has cut VLT use, said Sherry Morrison, owner of Shuckaluck’s Public Ale House, 11440 Braeside Dr. S.W., adding the take from her machines has fallen 15% to 20%.
AMES, Iowa — People in Ames said the statewide smoking ban that is forcing smokers outside is creating a mess of cigarette butts on streets and sidewalks.
“When we were allowed to smoke in the taverns, we had ashtrays and they were regularly cleaned out and taken care of,” said Reynolds. “People didn’t have to toss their butts out here on the street.”
Minnesota smoking bans for instance were the catalyst for closing an unprecedented 200+ bars, restaurants, and bingo halls.
Nationwide and around the world the loss of businesses and jobs after smoking bans are implemented is staggering. Even though air quality testing by organizations like the American Cancer Society, Johns Hopkins, a Minnesota Environmental Health Department, British Medical Journal published contributors prove that secondhand smoke levels are 15 – 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA permissible exposure limits (PEL).
Meanwhile Nicoderm manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Company, whose private foundation RWJF funds the smoking ban movement, saw 40% 1st quarter 2008 revenue growth over their previous year.
Currently, smoking cessation product sales just in the U.S. accounts for $500 million, but thanks to rent seeking smoking ban legislation; industry insiders expect those sales to climb to $4.6 billion annually by 2016.
GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) – Eight months ago, Ricky Dombrowski supported Gulfport’s smoking ban. But after watching almost 30% of his profits go up in smoke, he’s had a change of heart. Dombrowski is now pushing for a modification to the smoking ban, before it snuffs out his restaurant.
Dombrowski has received two calls from Gulfport police, warning him that smoking inside Skeeters is illegal. But if he obeys the law, he says his Gulfport business could close.
In the first three months after smoking was banned, his restaurant revenues dropped more than 30%. So, in August, he started to look the other way when people wanted to smoke. By October, he put out ashtrays.
Carpenter works part time at the Legion. He said the smoking ban has driven away business. Pull tab receipts are down and people who used to be regular customers don’t come around as often and they don’t stay as long. Carpenter said veterans especially, should have a right to smoke in their own club.
“They’ve served their country, and a lot of them are older veterans,” Carpenter said. “They’re not going to stand outside in 35 below zero weather and smoke. I mean, they’ll sit at home and smoke.”
The Bemidji American Legion has been smoke free longer than most bars in the state. That’s because Beltrami County passed a smoking ban ordinance a full two years before the state did. Club manager Bill Rice said the ban is largely to blame for cutting the club’s business in half.
“We were doing two and a half million in business in gross sales a year,” Rice said. “We’re down to a little over a million this year.”
Rice has had to cut three jobs at the Legion since the smoking ban took effect.
Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association interim director Tony Chesak said it’s clear to him the ban is causing bars across the state to fail.
I’d say, realistically, 200 to 300 licensed establishments, at least, have closed,” Chesak said. “I would think that would be a conservative number.”
Membership in the association dropped about 25 percent this year. Chesak said the promise of non-smokers frequenting bars more often because of the smoke free law hasn’t panned out.
“All the anti-smoking folks had said, you know, you get smoking out of your facilities and we’ll come in droves,” said Chesak. “Well, those droves didn’t come out.” {They never do.}
A poll conducted in September shows Minnesotans support the statewide smoke-free law by an overwhelming 77 percent. Gordon said national studies have found that smoking bans don’t hurt businesses in states that have bans in place. {That’s only true of studies conducted by nicotine nannies or the governments that passed the law. The few studies funded by tavern associations show the real, devastating effects.}
The worst year in history for Colorado casinos claimed its first victim Friday, when the Wild Horse Casino in Cripple Creek closed its doors, putting 62 employees out of work.
Revenues for casinos in Cripple Creek, along with Colorado’s other gaming towns, have fallen every month this year. In September, Cripple Creek gaming revenues fell 10.3 percent to $12.8 million compared to the same month in 2007, according to the state Division of Gaming. Statewide, gaming revenue was off 18.7 percent in September and 11.4 percent for the year to date.
Atlantic City’s 11 casinos would be allowed to permit smoking as early as tonight with City Council poised to give final approval to a measure postponing a ban for one year due to the worsening economy.
A temporary ban took effect on Oct. 15 because the council changed its mind too late to prevent a previously approved ordinance from taking effect.
Casino workers said the past 12 days have been great without having to breathe secondhand smoke. But casino operators said revenue has plunged 10 percent or more since.
The second comment gives a good insight into the nanny mind:
Hopefully, Atlantic City’s City Council has the courage to keep the smoking ban in place. Yes, it will cost jobs, taxes and possibly bankrupt some of the weaker joints. So what. Why should dealers and other floor workers be subjected to the health risks of secondhand smoke.
So we’re going to protect them by costing them their jobs? Brilliant!
Three establishments challenged ordinance over drop in revenue CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A strip club, a gambling parlor and a bar recently filed insurance claims against the Kanawha- charleston Health Department, alleging that the agency’s expanded smoking ban has financially damaged their businesses.
A state agency, which insures the Health Department, has rejected the three claims.
“Just because they lost profit, it doesn’t mean the Health Department is liable,” said Charles E. Jones, director of the state Board of Risk & Insurance Management, which denied the claims earlier this month. “The Health Department is enforcing a statute and ordinance.”
Sheer Fantasy’s video lottery sales dropped 30 percent last month compared to June, the month before the smoking ban took effect. Poker machine sales also were off 60 percent last month compared to September 2007.
Lost Lanes proprietor Natalie Hanks said her establishment has lost 74 regular bowlers from last season due to the recent state law that forbids smoking in public spaces. Her husband, Harry, estimated they had 250 bowlers in leagues last year.
“I would say 65 percent of the dropoff is related to the no smoking law and the other 35 percent for economy reasons,” said Hanks, who owns the 14-lane bowling alley and Found Lounge restaurant (connected to the bowling alley) with her husband Harry.
“We knew there would be a dropoff, but not this severe.”
“I know of four to six houses in Buffalo that closed due to the no smoking law,” Hanks said. “We’re nervous.”
“The smoking ban is having a major impact,” said Tom Swoik, head of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association. Casinos in Illinois have posted double-digit declines in revenue since the smoking ban took effect in January.
{And here it comes. . . the nannies favorite line. . . The Level Playing Field}
To create a level playing field, the Casino Association of New Jersey, which fought the Atlantic City ban, is now arguing in favor of smoking bans in other states. In an email statement, the association’s president, Joseph Corbo Jr., wrote: “We are hopeful that other nearby gaming jurisdictions, notably Pennsylvania and Connecticut, soon enact smoking bans.”
{So their solution to the ban killing their business is to spread it to their competition. Brilliant.}
KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) – No smoking, no business – Kanawha County bar owners said they have the numbers to prove it.
They blame the economic slide on an extended smoking ban, which went into effect on July 1, forbidding smoking in bars and gambling parlors.
“It’s not just an inconvenience,” said Greg White of the Nitro Moose Lodge. “It’s crippling us. …It has actually crippled everything we do.”
White said the extended smoking ban is taking a toll on his bottom line.
But Brenda Isaac, an official with the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, said smoking in public establishments is harming others’ health.
“It’s never a goal to shut down businesses, but it’s our goal to make businesses safe,” she said.
{Not their goal, but quite often the result, despite their constant denials of this fact.}
White estimates that his establishment lost as much as $65,000 in August alone.
“We’re considering all kinds of options right now,” he said. “But when you don’t have the dollars to make the bills …there is very little option left. It’s driving everybody out of business.”
Larry and Patti Wojdyla held a benefit earlier this summer at their 29-year-old Irish pub to try saving it from a slowing economy, high gas prices and the recent statewide smoking ban that they say ate away profits.
The smoking ban, said Larry Wojdyla, was “the last nail in the coffin” for the downtown business at 418 S. Main St.
“I don’t care if other states (banned smoking) or not, it’s killing a lot of businesses,” he said. “The state should have given neighborhood taverns the option to go smoking or nonsmoking. We have several nonsmoking customers who had no problems coming here.”
After the ban went into effect at he start of the year, Wojdyla said profits fell as much as 25 percent, losing up to $6,500 per month. He said patrons were still coming but staying for less time and, therefore, spending less money.
“My place was a working man’s bar, where people want to sit down, chat with friends and have a cigarette,” he said. “Now people are thinking, ‘Should I go in and spend $3 for a bottle of beer or spend $16 for a 30-pack and smoke at home?’”
In addition to Wojdyla and his wife, their two adult children also worked at Flaherty’s. Now the family has filed for bankruptcy and Wojdyla said they are in danger of losing their home.
“It has hit them very hard. Some of them are down 70 percent,” says Eau Claire Tavern League President Sally Jo Bitzer.
Bitzer also manages the bar at Wagner’s Lanes on Brackett Avenue.
She says before the smoking ban, the place was packed on a Saturday afternoon. Now, just a few loyal customers are left.
“People just aren’t coming in, and sitting there and socializing and smoking a cigarette,” she says.
Julie Johnson, the owner of the Five O’Clock club down the street says she’s seen much of the same trend since the ban took affect in July. She also says she feels like the city’s taken her rights as a business owner away, by banning smoking. Both Johnson and Bitzer say the ban hasn’t attracted any new customers.
“When they first came out,” Bitzer says, in reference to the ban, “They said, ‘Oh, there’s so many non-smokers out there that don’t come to the taverns because they don’t want to be affected by the secondhand smoke.’ They’re not coming.”
August 2, 2008–State Senator Jack Hatch helped push the smoking ban through the statehouse, and now he’s dealing with an unexpected and unpleasant result.
Smokers at Carl’s Place in Des Moines’ Sherman Hill neighborhood have to take their butts outside. It just so happens that “outside” is right across the street from Hatch’s home.
“I look over there every once in a while expecting somebody to shout something at me, but they don’t. They’re polite,” said Hatch, one of the biggest proponents of the ban.
The irony is as thick as the smoke. A gaggle of noisy smokers abiding by Hatch’s law, but making an eyesore for him in the process.
“I don’t think they know it actually, but I do. And it’s nice for me to be behind the bar and watch out these two big windows and see thirty to forty people out there having a good time and smoking cigarettes,” said bartender Scott Renaud.
Renaud claims he’s lost thirty to forty percent of his tips due to the smoking ban, but he won’t find sympathy across the street, where Hatch says the smokers will come back around. “If someone is really going to be bothered because they can’t smoke, then that’s because that person’s really addicted too badly. I think people will settle into something very comfortable,” Hatch said.
Brian Froehlich, president of the Iowa Bar Owners Coalition and a plaintiff, testified that the month-old ban has already slashed sales in bars across the state by 25 percent to 30 percent and as much as 50 percent for some establishments.
“I’d say 80 percent of them are still allowing people to smoke in their bars because if they don’t, they won’t have anybody in there,” Sturgis said.
Tini Bigs’ owner Keith Robbins, says cigar smokers enjoyed their lounge for 10 years until the smoking ban killed business. He says, “In the first 3 months of the smoking ban, we were down over 40 percent and for the year we were down over 30 percent, and it hasn’t come back.”
Senate Bill 346 would exempt family-owned business, outdoor patios and private clubs from the current smoking ban.
“The time has come to take this step,” Cates said. “Why? Because this measure is hurting business in Ohio.”
The Moose Family Center has experienced a dramatic drop in business, which management blames on the smoking ban.
Revenue for the lodge is down at least 60 percent since the ban, said Larry Turner, govenor of the lodge. To be successful, they need to bring in about $28,000 a week; last week they brought in $16,000, Turner said.
Turner dismisses claims from the American Cancer Society and other pro-smoking ban groups that have said more customers would be attracted to places where smoking is banned.
“It’s a damn lie. It’s not happening. You can’t find that anywhere in Ohio,” Turner said.
“The law ensures that all business will operate on a level playing field with one fair, statewide standard that is easy to enforce. Furthermore, the intent of the law—to protect all workers from secondhand smoke— was clearly communicated to Ohio voters,” [American Cancer Society Nanny] Hoctor said.
(Ah yes, the famous, favorite line of the nannies, a level playing field. They still haven’t figured out their constant use of the phrase reveals the lie of bans being good for business. If they were, there would be no need for their cherished “level playing field.”)
More than a dozen bars and taverns have shut their doors since smoking was prohibited in almost all businesses, and owners of some bars that remain say revenues have plummeted. Tax receipts on food and drink purchases countywide, however, have increased slightly over the past year, and several clubs have invested heavily to install outdoor beer gardens and patios.
Councilman Tom Didier, R-3rd, disagrees with his former colleague. Didier, who sells food to restaurants and bars, said he’s seen how the ban has hurt mom-and-pop places throughout the city.
“It’s been difficult,” he said. “There are still customers today that are hurting.”
Colorado casino revenues in April fell for the fourth straight month since the smoking ban took effect in January, dropping 7.1 percent from March and down 12.5 percent from April, 2007.
It was the second-biggest year-to-year decrease ever, behind March.
In Cripple Creek, revenue fell 6.4 percent to $10.7 million in April, off 13.3 percent from
April, 2007.
Cripple Creek casinos have brought in a total of $42.6 million in 2008, off 14.7 percent from this point in 2007.
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois casino officials continue to blame the state’s indoor smoking ban as riverboat gambling revenues have fallen for the fourth straight month, a report shows.
Each of the state’s nine riverboat gambling sites took in less money in April than they did in the same month last year, for an average loss of about 19 percent, according to the Illinois Gaming Board’s monthly report. Each casino also saw its revenues and attendance drop from March to April.
Revenue drops between April and the same month last year range from a nearly 27 percent drop in Alton to a 5 percent decrease in East St. Louis. Casino Rock Island posted a loss in the same period of 17 percent. Metropolis showed a 25.5 percent loss. The Empress Casino in Joliet lost about 26.5 percent in revenue over last April and Harrah’s Casino in Joliet lost almost 18 percent.
Alatus Management, a Minneapolis-based developing company, purchased the building a year and a half ago. After spending 27 years in its current location, it was the decision of Grandma’s corporate office to close the restaurant at the beginning of this summer.
Peterson said she is disappointed that the restaurant is closing because she is finishing finals and now has to find another job.
The president of Grandma’s Corporation, Brian Daugherty, said legislation like the smoking ban has deteriorated the state of hospitality jobs in Minneapolis.
