Nonsmokers account for 89 percent of casino gamblers who have an annual income of at least $150,000, says a survey to be spotlighted at October’s Global Gaming Expo.
A strong majority of respondents favor smokefree gambling, the survey found, while also noting that 34 percent of respondents have a health condition that prevents them from spending time in an area with secondhand smoke.
Those findings help refute the oft-repeated argument that a smokefree gaming floor causes casino revenue to drop, said leading slot influencer Brian Christopher, who partnered with the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation to conduct the survey. “Even smokers in the mix prefer smokefree casinos,” he added.
More survey findings will be released at the Oct. 9 G2E panel discussion “Insights from Non-Smoking Casino Initiatives.” The panel discussion will feature Christopher; Cynthia Hallett, president and CEO of the ANR Foundation; Tashina Williams, senior content marketing manager at Potawatomi Casino Hotel Milwaukee; and Bryan Hayes, senior vice president of gaming operations at Foxwoods Resort Casino. Potawatomi allows indoor smoking only in a small second-floor gaming lounge. Foxwoods, the third largest casino in the country, has been smokefree for three years.
Clean-air laws in 20 states require commercial casinos and other gaming venues to be smokefree, along with almost all workplaces and sites open to the public. Other states exempt gaming floors from their clean-air laws; in New Jersey, for example, smoking is banned outside on public beaches, but allowed inside on gaming floors. Many tribal operators and some commercial casinos voluntarily banned smoking on their gaming floors after reopening from COVID closures.
This will be the second G2E panel addressing the issue of smoking in casinos; the first took place last year.
The online survey, conducted between December 2023 and January 2024, was designed to have broad reach, while focusing on casino customers, mainly from Christopher’s social-media audiences. Categories of respondents included casino players in general, tribal citizens who play, and casino workers who play.
Christopher, an official advocate for ANR and a member of the 2023 G2E panel about smoking in casinos, said he has heard from many in the industry who support smokefree casinos, including casino workers, slot manufacturers, and casino management. “The ones at the very top have this old-school feeling that they’re going to lose business,” he said. He acknowledged that some casinos see a brief revenue drop immediately after a ban takes effect, but added that it quickly rebounds. “At end of the day, a gambler wants to gamble,” he said.
Christopher’s vast sphere of influencing includes a YouTube channel with almost 700,000 subscribers; becoming a brand ambassador for BetMGM this summer; being the namesake for a smokefree slot area at the Plaza in downtown Las Vegas and for a Gaming Arts slot that incorporates some of his game ideas; and most recently, announcing that he will host a show on SportsGrid’s new Casino and Gambling Network scheduled to launch in 2025.
His endeavors reflect a continual message about the benefits of smokefree gambling. Since January 2023, he has limited his livestreams and promotional visits to smokefree casinos.
“There are a lot of smoking casinos that we had to turn down,” he said. “A lot of people thought we were crazy for doing it. But for me, the choice shouldn’t be about money. It should be about our health. I did it for the health of myself and my staff and for our fans that come to visit us.” He said he remains in high demand, with about 80 percent of his 2025 schedule already booked. “There’s definitely no looking back. Our fans keep telling us to keep up the push, we don’t want (smoking).”
Legislators in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and elsewhere have introduced bills to bring gaming floors under their clean-air laws, but none has been approved. Christopher is confident that will happen sooner or later. “It needs to start with one of them. It’s so archaic to me that that we’re still talking about this when we all know the harms of (secondhand smoke).”
Instead of insisting on being a haven for indoor smoking, operators should ensure they attract as many people as possible, Christopher said.
“Make your casinos floors look better, give a better experience, offer more fun,” he advised. “That’s what people are going for. They’re not going so they can have a cigarette. They’re going to gamble and have fun.”
