Well, you don't state what state or town you live in, so I can't make any comments on why this is.
We do know that all across the United States, a lot of private restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and bingo halls have closed because of the forced smoking ban.
If you can give me a hint about where you live, I will look into it and see what I have on that area. Right now, I have you living in Utopia, and it's not on my map. :)
It was in Oregon.
Prior to the ban it was my opinion and most of our members in the C of C that is should be the owners decision on allowing or not allowing smoking in their business. Likewise, it should be the customers decision whether or not to frequent that business. That still is my opinion.
However the feared drop in revenue after the banned passed did not happen. The smoking ban did allow some exceptions, bars and special closed off smoking rooms, so perhaps that helped in preventing drops in income.
Interesting that now after 5 or 6 years most of the owners that fought this change now say it was a positive occurrence.