URBANDALE (AP) — The owner of a smoke-free sports bar in a Des Moines suburb claims Iowa’s smoking ban that went into effect last summer has hurt his business.

Jeff Fogelson owns the Game Sports Bar in Urbandale, which has been smoke-free since it opened 2 1/2 years ago.

He said Iowa’s Smokefree Air Act, which went into effect July 1, hurt the niche he created for his business. He claims that former patrons have decided to frequent other sports bars closer to their homes and work because they can also breathe cleaner air there under the new law.

Fogelson said he hasn’t run the numbers, but he estimates that sales are down 20 percent.

“I’m trying to head it off at the pass before the business goes completely away,” he said. “Unless things turn around, if the decrease continues, there’s no way we’ll be able to stay afloat.”

Customer Jesse James, 22, of Urbandale, said Fogelson’s one way of competing is now gone.

“When I come out on a Friday, everyone else goes somewhere else,” James said.

Last month, a group of Iowa bar owners told a legislative committee that their businesses have suffered a significant decrease in revenue since the smoking ban began.

But state health officials said of the 23 states that have similar laws, none have reported a drop in revenue from restaurants and bars following their bans.

Doni DeNucci, president and CEO of the Iowa Restaurant Association, disputes the claim, saying that no formal surveys have been done. Anecdotal information shows that bars “are facing a crunch,” he said.

“A number of sports bar business in urban areas chose to be smoke free, and now they are no longer anything special,” he said. “The market niche was pulled out from under them.”

Bonnie Mapes, director of the state Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control, defended the revenue review, saying it was based on objective date including sales tax revenue and business and liquor license applications.

“These studies are conducted by state departments of revenue and universities … You’ll have one bar owner saying I’ve lost business, one will say there’s been no change and another will say business has increased,” she said. “Which one are we supposed to believe?”

The Iowa Department of Revenue said figures on statewide retail sales of Iowa bars and restaurants since July 1 aren’t yet available.

Some bar owners who were smoke-free before the ban said they haven’t seen a loss in business like Fogelson and others are reporting.

Mark Rogers, owner of Legends American Grill locations in Ames, Des Moines, Johnston, Pleasant Hill and West Des Moines, said his business tries to be more a restaurant than a bar, so the ban hasn’t really affected it.

“But I feel for Jeff (Fogelson). It does hurt businesses that are one-dimensional,” Rogers said.