Smoke-Free Casinos in Vegas
(and non-smoking areas)

Last update: September 23, 2026

Smoking is legal in Vegas casinos

While most jurisdictions have banned smoking in casinos, Vegas is way behind the curve.  Smoking is legal in Vegas casinos, and smoke-free options are few and far between.  There’s been a push for more smokefree areas, but don’t expect anything to change any time soon.

Many resorts ban smoking in the hotel portion, but on the casino floor, smoking is almost always allowed and abundant.

Park MGM:  The only non-smoking casino in Vegas

Vegas has exactly one non-smoking casino:  Park MGM, which went smoke-free in 2020.  Despite its success, other casinos haven’t followed.

Smoke-Free Areas

Some casinos have smoke-free areas.  The pollution there is roughly half what it is in the smoking area.  So still bad, but not nearly as bad.  Here’s what’s on tap:

1. Palms has a 7,300 square-foot enclosed casino area with 224 slot machines, as of 8/24/26. (8 News Now)
2. Plaza (Downtown) has a smoke-free gaming area with slots and table games.  It opened as slots-only on June 8, 2023 as “Brian Christopher Slots”.  In 2026 they added table games:: 3:2 blackjack, single-zero roulette, and baccarat, with $25 minimums, and bubble (electronic) craps, normally 6pm to midnight.
3. Mandalay Bay (South Strip) has a non-smoking slots area as of early 2024.
4. Red Rock Resort has a smoke-free slots area.
5. Green Valley Ranch (in Henderson, next to Vegas) has a non-smoking area (with 99.8% RTP video poker). (John Mehaffey, 9/26)
6. Sunset Station in Henderson has a small non-smoking slots area.
7. Sometimes some of the table games have no-smoking signs, but those are the exception and not the rule.  At Wynn/Encore and Venetian/Palazzo, there's an unwritten rule that you can ask for a table to be non-smoking.  (Venetian/Palazzo had smoke free table games from 2021-23, but no more.  Come on, you didn’t expect Venetian to be a trailblazer, did you?)
8. Most poker rooms are smoke-free.

Least-stinky to stinkiest casinos

From best to worst:

1. True non-smoking casino.  Park MGM is the only non-smoking casino in Vegas.
2. Grocery stores and convenience stores.  Smoking was banned there in 2006, but the odds there are crazy bad.  Gambling itself ought to be banned in grocery stores anyway as predatory.
3. Casinos with closed non-smoking areas.  The only one as I write this is at Palms, as per above.
4. Casinos with open non-smoking areas.  This means no walls separating it from the main floor.  As I write this, the largest one is at Plaza downtown.  The pollution is half that of the main floor, but still 2.7x that of a true non-smoking casino.
5. Other Strip casinos.  Higher ceilings and probably better ventilation.  They still reek of smoke, but not as much as the others.
6. Older downtown casinos.  The older downtown casinos have lower ceilings, presumably older ventilation, and a likely older average-age crowd (= more likely to be smokers).
7. Locals casinos, Silver Sevens, Gold Coast.  Locals smoke like chimneys and those casinos are the worst.  At Silver Sevens, rather than “so thick you could cut it with a knife”, I prefer to say “so thick you can stab it with a fork.”  You can smell it in the freaking parking lot before you even walk through the doors.

How bad is it?

A study measured air quality in Vegas casinos and reported these results:

• Smoking casino (average):  165
• Closed Non-smoking area: (not studied yet)
• Open Non-smoking area:  83
• Park MGM (non-smoking):  31

(CDC, 2024, µg/m³) 

The casinos’ claims are B.S.

Casinos wring their hands about going smoke-free, saying that they’ll lose business if that happens.  Those claims are B.S.  The overwhelming majority of patrons don’t smoke, and smokers who stop visiting are balanced by non-smokers who will start visiting.  A formal study showed that non-smoking casinos actually outperform their smoking counterparts.

So yes, casinos aren’t just unethical, they’re stupid.  Along with their shareholders.

Possible future progress

Don’t hold your breath (no pun intended) (okay, maybe a little).  A non-profit has been pushing the issue, but they’re not going to make any progress any time soon.  Each year they call for shareholders of major casino groups to vote on whether to just study the idea of going non-smoking (not to actually go non-smoking), but as of 2025, about 80% of shareholders vote against even studying the issue.

Don’t rely on the “smokefree directory”

A non-profit (ANRF) publishes a smokefree directory, but it’s not especially useful.  For Vegas, it lists Aces & Ales and Sand Dollar Lounge as “commercial casinos”, but they're actually just bars which are licensed to have no more than 15 machines. (ANRF)

Marijuana

The stench of marijuana is everywhere, even though it’s not allowed in casinos, hotels, or public areas (only in private residences).  NV law allows possession of 2.5 oz.