Nevada’s most well-known betting places, the casinos, are in the crosshairs of anti-smoking advocates and they are calling on regulators to ban indoor smoking at all the Silver State’s casinos including those on the Las Vegas Strip.
Snuff It Out
The Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) recently sent an open letter to the Nevada Gaming Commission highlighting the risks of secondhand smoke to customers and casino workers alike. The letter coincides with the gaming industry’s Responsible Gaming Education Month and draws a parallel between the two initiatives.
The ANR’s letter reads as follows: “While we applaud (the gaming industry’s) commitment to responsible gaming, a major blind spot remains because too many casinos continue to allow indoor smoking at their properties.
“Allowing smoking on gaming floors not only poses significant health risks to workers and patrons alike, it also undermines responsible gaming by encouraging addictive behavior as well as prolonged gambling sessions without taking breaks — a fundamental tenet of responsible play.”
Nevada is only the most recent battlefield for the group that has proposed total smoking bans in other jurisdictions including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Kansas.
Jennifer Togliatti, chair of the Nevada Gaming Commission, cited open forum transparency laws in her response to the letter. “As one member of a five-person Commission, I am unable to speak to policy matters on behalf of the Commission,” she said.
Titus Cites Air Care
U.S. Representative Dina Titus whose First Congressional District includes Clark County and Las Vegas was asked about her opinion on a smoking ban at the American Gaming Association’s “Betting on the Future of Gaming” conference held in Washington DC last week.
“If you go anywhere on the Strip, they have the very latest technology. It’s not the low ceiling, old-time places that are so smoky. Even some of the slot machine banks have filters on the side that suck out the bad air,” Titus replied.
When asked whether her constituents had expressed concern regarding indoor smoking at casinos, Titus stated, “Well, not lately because of all of the improvements that [casinos] have made.”
Naturally, that did not go over well with the ANR, and its President and CEO Cynthia Hallett, fired back, saying, “Given the support for smoke-free casinos from patrons, working people, public health officials, and the public at large, we encourage Rep. Titus to support her constituents and use her role as the Congressional Gaming Caucus chair to push the industry to end this outdated business practice.”
However, Hallett did not stop there, claiming science is on her side as well, citing anecdotal evidence from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, the people largely responsible for installing air-filtration systems.
“The engineers who design ventilation systems have repeatedly told casinos to stop claiming that they protect workers and guests from dangerous secondhand smoke. These systems remove odor, not carcinogens,” Hallett added.
The Clean Indoor Air Act
The 2006 Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act exempts Nevada casinos from an indoor smoking ban. This exemption was in response to studies that have shown patrons who gamble the most money are also prone to smoking. The conventional wisdom suggests those gamblers would opt for smoking-friendly gambling destinations, costing the casinos money and jeopardizing jobs.
However, social mores and demographics are changing and what may have been true in the past may be outdated in an anti-smoking culture. A 2023 poll commissioned by the Nevada Tobacco Control and Smoke-free Coalition revealed that 58% of registered Nevada voters approved of a total indoor smoking ban in casinos while 39% were opposed.
The only total smoke-free casino on the Las Vegas Strip is the Park MGM, which could be the first of many to follow.
