Smoking in casinos is one of the most common sights you’ll notice from movies in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. Players puffing away at fat cigars at the blackjack table; slots gamers plunging the machine’s arm with a cigarette nestling in the corner of their mouth.
Especially in Las Vegas casinos are built to suck away smoke from tables, with ventilation systems built specifically to keep the free flow of clean air moving.
And while many states in the USA now ban smoking indoors, there are some exceptions. This is particularly notable in Las Vegas, where the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act 2006 bans smoking in all but these are:
- Strip joints, brothels, and tobacco stores
- Bars for 21-year-olds and over only
- Outside areas of restaurants
- Inside areas of casinos where minors are prohibited
Can I Smoke in a Vegas Casino?
Yes. As stated above, Vegas casinos can allow smoking in gaming zones where minors are prohibited. This means many of the Las Vegas casinos to permit smoking do so in outside areas or in the gaming pits. The MGM Grand is perhaps the most famous smoking casino in Vegas but still doesn’t allow hotel guests to smoke in their rooms. Failure to adhere to this will lead to a fine of up to $1000.
Las Vegas Casinos That Allow Smoking
While all Vegas casinos have some form of a smoke-free zone, these casinos allow smoking in certain areas:
- MGM Grand
- Resorts World Las Vegas (only on the gaming floor)
- Las Vegas Sands (only on the gaming floor)
- The Venetian and Palazzo (only on the gaming floor)
- Wynn Resorts (players must wear a mask unless actively smoking, while table games without plexiglass are designated as nonsmoking, non-vaping tables)
- Caesars (players can lower their masks to smoke)
Vegas Smoke-Free Casinos
While many casinos offer smoking zones, only a handful have become completely smoke free. However, a growing number of hotels are also starting to become smoke-free. In 2020 the Park MGM become a completely smoke-free establishment, while the NoMad Casino and Hotel swiftly followed.
Las Vegas Nonsmoking Casinos and Hotels
- Park MGM
- The Cosmopolitan
- NoMad Casino and Hotel
- Vdara Hotel & Spa
- The Signature Hotel at MGM Grand
- The Platinum Hotel & Spa
Vaping in Vegas
Vaping and e-cigarettes fall under the same legal restrictions as smoking in Nevada. Because of this, players wishing to vape will have to remain in smoking zones of casinos, and are not permitted to vape in nonsmoking areas.
Smoking During Covid
During the coronavirus pandemic last year many Vegas casinos implemented fresh regulations to ban players from smoking and vaping while at tables and slot machines. This coincided with a regulation for face coverings such as masks to be worn. However, a lot of casinos have either now dropped the masks requirement for players who have been fully vaccinated or require players who wish to smoke to lower their masks while doing so.
Atlantic City Casino Smoking
Where Can I Smoke and Gamble?
Elsewhere in the country, smoking in casinos is far less tolerated. Atlantic City is one of the few places in New Jersey where you can legally smoke indoors. A year-long ban on casino smoking due to the coronavirus pandemic was lifted on July 1. Still, Atlantic City law restricts casinos from offering no more than 25% of their floor space to smokers.
According to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation (ANRF) “20 states and a growing number of cities now require all state-regulated gambling venues to be smoke-free indoors”. However, there remains over 1,000 gambling venues in the country that permit smoking.
The ANRF claims the majority of Americans visiting casinos are nonsmokers, while casinos that do accept smokers “makes it harder to attract new customers for meetings, gaming, and non-gaming businesses.”
If you want to smoke while gambling, online casinos are a great option to play your favorite games and indulge in your vices — you set the rules of your home (or wherever you choose to gamble), so you know healthwise, it’s a safe online casino.
If the rules are hard to wrap your head around, why not check out some of our top-rated legal US gambling sites?
