A web campaign is urging restaurant and bar owners who are not happy with the new smoking ban to protest the law by boycotting the sales of their lottery games like keno and pull-tab games on Saturday, June 19th, 2010, the day before the Father's Day celebrations.
A Facebook account called Michigan Lotteyr Boycott states that it has adequate supporters to cost the state lottery between twelve million dollars and eighteen million dollars loss in sales. It is widely believe that the Protect Private Property Rights in Michigan as the leader of the boycott.
The Facebook page states that this boycott will only be the start of the response of the affected businesses until the smoking ban is amended. The leaders of the group cannot be reached for a comment. Some bar proprietors have reported substantial drops in their keno business as the result of the smoking ban, which officially took effect on May 1st, 2010.
Lottery spokesperson Andi Brancato said that a boycott of the lottery games like keno would attract the attention of the Michigan Lottery Bureau. Brancato said that lottery retailers have deals with the state to sell tickets and those contracts could be examined by the lottery bureau.
Brancato said that had never heard of any retailers that are encouraging a lottery boycott. Brancato said that they expect all retailers to continue selling their products and if they choose to boycott for a day or whatever amount of time, they will only hurt their businesses because they will not earn their selling commission and gamers will just go somewhere elese to play.
She said that the state lottery would review cases in which retailers decided not to sell tickets, although Brancato would not say where the retailers who will participate in the boycott will lose their license to sell lottery products. One supporter of the boycott is Natalie Samu, the owner of Perfect Pitch Sports Pub in Taylor.
Samu complained that the ban has cost her much of her business profits. She said that her weekly sales on the game of keno have dropped from $6,400 dollars to around $1,800 dollars. Samu said that before the ban, her business drew between one hundred to one hundred fifty customers on Saturday nights.
Now, it only drew 20 to 30 customers. She said that it has been horrible because even if her bar smells better, she lost most of her business. The boycott is not backed by the Michigan Restaurant Association, according to spokesperson Andy Deloney. The group was a leading critic of the smoking ban.
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John Sullivan
