At Spanky’s Tobacco World on Liberty Street in Franklin, customers would settle in with coffee and play the skill machines. Some were elderly people looking for something to do, employee Jody Matthews recalled. While they were there, they bought pop, candy and cigarettes. When they won, some left a tip for the cashiers.
The machines had to come out Oct. 13. In the days that followed, Matthews said, the store lost some of those purchases, employees lost tips and work hours were reduced.
“The tip money helped us out tremendously,” she said…