cleary said:
I really don't understand. Do pool players just stop playing if they cant smoke? Do they buy a table for home? It seems kind of silly to me that a room would close just because you cannot smoke anymore. Is it THAT bad to go outside and smoke?
If the room across the street had smoking, I could understand it affecting business. But if everywhere has a smoking bad, do people just not leave home?
I left Ohio right before the ban happened in the Akron area, so I don't know exactly how bad its been. But I live in New York City where everything is smoke free and I don't really see any problems because of it.
The greater Cincinatti area is very suburban and spread out over a very large area. Most all of the rooms that were in, or still in the area are located in suburban areas. People there have the choice of staying in Ohio and not smoking, or depending on which part of town the live in, they can make a 2-20 minute drive to Kentucky and smoke. Now if you have 2 or 3 guys that gamble and are good action that happen to be smokers, you can bet they are going to play in Kentucky... Poolplayers go where the action is and if the guys that will lose a little dough are playing in KY, then everyone else is bound to follow... I think the world of Mike, but being a smoker if I lived in the area and was out gambling I'd have to lean towards going to Kentucky. If I am betting my money I want to be comfortable and that means having a cig in my hand. How are you supposed to hit a gear and more importantly, stay in gear, when you have to go outside every 15-20 minutes to light up? We don't have that issue here in Columbus because you can't smoke anywhere within 2-1/2 hours of here. In Cincinatti, people have the choice.... At least it's fair to bar and poolroom owners here in Columbus because they are all on the same level playing field, but in Cinci they have no chance with KY being a short drive away...
The rooms in Cinci also took a big hit 9-10 years ago when the casinos popped up in Indiana.... Snipped from a previous post--->
"Before the boats devestated Cinci, if there wasn't anything to do in Columbus all it took was one call to Michael's to get guranteed $500-1000 action with 10-12 different customers. Michaels back then didn't have as many $10,000+ sets played there as some others in the country, but I will guarantee that there were more $500-$5000 sets played there on a weekly basis than any room in the country for a 4-5 year period. Within 5-6 months of the casinos going in you couldn't hardly find anyone that had enough money left to play a $50 set!
A proposed casino near Wilmington (between Columbus and Cinci) will be on the ballot this fall and their advertising is much better this time than it was on past casinos bills. Its' so good I am going to say that it's a lock it passes this time..... If it does pass, poolrooms and bars across the entire southern half of the state will be ghost towns, not just for action, customers period! Casinos suck....................."
The somking ban just knocked the wind out of the sails of what business was left.....
As for the first part of your post about people buying tables for their homes.... You hit the nail on the head! A friend spoke to the manager of a retail table sales place here in Columbus recently and he said sales have increased by nearly 25% since the ban went into effect. Many customers are stating that they are buying tables because they can smoke at home... And here are some other numbers to illustrate the effect of the smoking ban. Annual sales at three of the major poolrooms and 5 different bars that I know of have been off 15-35% since the ban went into effect! And our whole area is non-smoking!!! Drinkers are drinking and smoking at home or going to one of the few bars that are illegally letting customers smoke.
Saw
The economy is bad everywhere.
Pool caters to lower and middle class customers. Regardless of the smoking laws, rooms are closing faster than they are opening. Several in MO have closed with no smoking bans in place. One thing I have noticed when I ask pool room owners MONTHS in advance "how are you going to change?" when the ban hits...they almost always have ZERO plans for it. They are not marketing to non-smokers or cleaning the place up. They play it by ear and then wonder why business is not pouring in. Smoking bans are coming EVERYWHERE and room owners need to stop playing ignorant, hoping it never takes place in their town/state.