An Internet campaign is urging bar and restaurant owners who are unhappy with the new no-smoking law to protest by boycotting their sales of Keno, pull tabs and other lottery games they sell on Saturday, the day before Father’s Day.

A Facebook page called Michigan Lottery Boycott claims it has enough supporters to cost the state lottery between $12 million and $18 million in sales. An e-mail cites the Protect Private Property Rights In Michigan Team as leader of an unprecedented boycott.

“This boycott will only be the beginning of their collective response, until this ban is amended, and private property rights are restored in the State of Michigan,” the Facebook page declares. It does not specifically state how the no-smoking law should be amended.

Leaders of the property rights group could not be reached.

Some bar owners have reported significant drops in business as a result of the smoking ban, which took effect May 1.

A boycott would draw the attention of the Michigan Lottery Bureau, said lottery spokesperson Andi Brancato. She said lottery retailers have agreements with the state to sell tickets, and those contracts could be reviewed by the lottery bureau.

Brancato said she’d never heard of retailers calling for a lottery boycott.

“We certainly expect all retailers to sell our products,” Brancato said. “If they choose not to sell for a day, or whatever time period, they will only hurt themselves because they’ll lose out on their selling commission. Customers will only go somewhere else.”

She said the lottery would “take a look” at cases in which retailers did not sell lottery tickets, though she would not say whether they would lose their license to sell.

One boycott supporter is Natalie Samu, owner of the Perfect Pitch Sports Pub in Taylor. Samu said the smoking ban, which took effect May 1, has cost her much of her business days and nights.

Samu said her weekly Keno sales have plunged from $6,400 to around $1,800.

She said a one-day boycott would hardly be noticed.

Samu said before the smoking ban, her bar drew between 100 and 150 on Saturday nights. Now, she said, 20 or 30 show up.

“It’s been awful,” Samu said. “The bar smells better, but that doesn’t make up for the business I’ve lost.”

Of a boycott, she said, “People say it will hurt my sales. I say, I don’t have any sales.”

The boycott is not supported by the Michigan Restaurant Association, said spokesman Andy Deloney. The association was a leading opponent of the smoking ban.

The smoking ban applies to all workplaces – bars and restaurants included – but exempts the gaming floors of Detroit’s three casinos. Indian-run casinos are not affected by the ban.

source: freep.com

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