“As members of the hospitality industry, we seek to accommodate the needs of both our smoking and nonsmoking customers,” officials with Hollywood Casino at the Meadows, owned by Penn National, said in a statement. Smoking is not permitted in areas such as restaurants, clubs, entertainment venues, lobbies and meeting areas. In Pennsylvania, the Clean Indoor Air Act permits casinos to allow smoking on up to 50% of the casino floor, said Doug Harbach, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Locally, casinos seem hard-pressed to make changes to smoking regulations, with most following guidelines distributed by state officials. They’ve tried … but most shut down because you’re just alienating a fairly large” group of people. “I’ve never seen a smoke-free casino work as long as I’ve been in the industry,” said Sean Sullivan, general manager of Live! Casino Pittsburgh in Hempfield’s Westmoreland Mall. Others suggest installing air filtration systems will help limit any lingering smoke.

Arguments from opponents often bring up issues such as losing customers, resulting in lower revenues. The challenge is one of competitive advantage.”ĭespite a shift in conversations, not everyone is on board with banning smoking in casinos. “However, there are so many places in different states, different countries where smoking is not permitted in casinos. “There is clearly, undeniably, a relationship between smokers and gambling,” said Alan Feldman of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The state’s other 14 licensed casinos again dished out ashtrays and cordoned off tobacco-friendly spaces once the smoking ban was lifted in June. Two facilities in Pennsylvania - Parx Casino in Bucks County and Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County - have remained smoke-free after the state lifted a temporary smoking ban implemented during the pandemic. The rationale behind that exemption is seemingly shifting, as the ongoing covid-19 pandemic shines a light on the health and safety of casino workers and patrons.Īcross the country, 20 states have banned smoking in casinos, including neighboring states Delaware, Maryland, New York and Ohio, according to the nonprofit American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation. Like flashing lights, dings and coins splashing into a slot machine tray, an equally familiar - even stereotypical - casino experience involves plumes of smoke wafting skyward from patrons puffing on ash-tipped cigarettes.Ĭasinos, and the states that host them, have permitted smoking for decades, with the industry bypassing a sweeping ban that in the 2000s outlawed the practice on airplanes, in restaurants and in other indoor places.

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