Impacts of smoking ban policies on billiard halls sales in South Korea using objective sales information of a credit card company: Interrupted Time Series (Preprint)

Abstract

Smoking ban policy (SBP) is a potent health intervention and offers the potential to influence anti-smoking behavior. The Korean government completely has prohibited smoking in indoor sports facilities, including billiard halls, since the government revised the National Health Promotion Act in December 2017.

This study aimed to examine the impact of the SBP on indoor sports facilities on billiard halls’ economic outcomes.

This study used credit card sales data of the biggest card company in South Korea. Data are from January 2017 to December 2018. We examined monthly sales data in 28 administrative neighborhoods in Seoul, capital city of South Korea. We conducted the interrupted time series model using the fixed effects model and the linear regression with panel corrected standard errors (PCSE).

Billiard halls’ sales and transactions were not significantly changed after the introduction of the smoking ban in the full PCSE models. R-squared of the full PCSE model was 0.967 for sales and 0.981 for transactions.

SBP had no substantial economic gains or losses in the sales and transactions in billiard halls. Health policy makers can actively expand the application of SBP and make effort to enhance the social awareness of the need and benefits for public SBP in both the smokers and the owners of hospitality facilities.

N/ASmoking ban policy; indoor sports facility; South Korea; Economics