The Effect of a Smoke-Free Ordinance on Eating and Drinking Places in Lincoln, Nebraska

The Lincoln Smoking Regulation Act which prohibited smoking in most public places and places of employment in Lincoln, Nebraska including restaurants and bars was implemented in January 2005. This report examines the impact of the ordinance on the following measures of business activity in Lincoln: • Sales revenue of eating and drinking places • Employment of eating and drinking places • Gross revenues from keno. We examine the impact of the ordinance during the year 2005, the first year that the ordinance was in effect. While restaurant and bar activity in Lincoln rose during 2005 by some measures, we focus on performance relative to Omaha in order to isolate the impact of Lincoln’s ordinance. The estimated first-year impacts of the ordinance were as follows