CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A strip club, a gambling parlor and a bar recently filed insurance claims against the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, alleging that the agency's expanded smoking ban has financially damaged their businesses.

A state agency, which insures the Health Department, has rejected the three claims.

"Just because they lost profit, it doesn't mean the Health Department is liable," said Charles E. Jones, director of the state Board of Risk & Insurance Management, which denied the claims earlier this month. "The Health Department is enforcing a statute and ordinance."

Sheer Fantasy in Jefferson, and The Hot Spot Café and The Birdhouse Café & Lounge in Charleston, alleged that the 3-month-old smoking ban is "unreasonable" and "destroyed the economic use of their property."

"My revenues are off," said John Glass, who owns The Hot Spot video lottery parlor, which has five poker machines. "People should have the right to make decisions for themselves. Smoking and drinking and gambling all seem to go together."

Last month, the Health Department filed misdemeanor charges against The Hot Spot for allegedly failing to post no-smoking signs inside and outside the business.

Sheer Fantasy's manager referred questions to the strip club's owner, who was in Florida on Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

Sheer Fantasy's video lottery sales dropped 30 percent last month compared to June, the month before the smoking ban took effect. Poker machine sales also were off 60 percent last month compared to September 2007.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A strip club, a gambling parlor and a bar recently filed insurance claims against the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, alleging that the agency's expanded smoking ban has financially damaged their businesses.

A state agency, which insures the Health Department, has rejected the three claims.

"Just because they lost profit, it doesn't mean the Health Department is liable," said Charles E. Jones, director of the state Board of Risk & Insurance Management, which denied the claims earlier this month. "The Health Department is enforcing a statute and ordinance."

Sheer Fantasy in Jefferson, and The Hot Spot Café and The Birdhouse Café & Lounge in Charleston, alleged that the 3-month-old smoking ban is "unreasonable" and "destroyed the economic use of their property."

"My revenues are off," said John Glass, who owns The Hot Spot video lottery parlor, which has five poker machines. "People should have the right to make decisions for themselves. Smoking and drinking and gambling all seem to go together."

Last month, the Health Department filed misdemeanor charges against The Hot Spot for allegedly failing to post no-smoking signs inside and outside the business.

Sheer Fantasy's manager referred questions to the strip club's owner, who was in Florida on Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

Sheer Fantasy's video lottery sales dropped 30 percent last month compared to June, the month before the smoking ban took effect. Poker machine sales also were off 60 percent last month compared to September 2007.

"It's bad, real bad," said the manager, who identified herself as "B.J." and declined to give her last name. "The smoking ban is hurting business."

Birdhouse Café owner Herbert Shamblin could not be reached for comment.

More Kanawha County bars are expected to file insurance claims against the Health Department in the coming weeks, said Jesse Bane, spokesman for West Virginia Association of Club Owners & Fraternal Services.

Bane said fraternal groups, such as the Nitro Moose Lodge, have been hit especially hard by the smoking ban.

"The Supreme Court has said you can't destroy the economic use of a business," said Bane, who owns a bar and gambling parlor in Fayette County. "These businesses are losing money because their patrons can't smoke. And if they keep losing money, they have to shut their doors, and that's destroying the economic use of their property."

Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health members have said they expected bar sales to drop after the smoking ban took effect July 1. They've predicted bar and gambling parlor profits will rebound in time.

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 348-4869.