The first tentative steps towards bringing a non-smoking environment to Nevada is – so far – succeeding. In one of the most important initiatives in Nevada gambling history, a small casino at Fernley opened in November 2008 and the initial drop is up to expectations.
Fernley is a town off the Interstate 80, east of Reno and the new Fernley Nugget is a modestly-sized casino for Nevada, with 10,000sq.ft, 174 slots and two poker tables, but it was built specifically as a non-smoking establishment.
General manager Scott Tate insists that market research suggested that there was an opening for a non-smoking casino in the area. He has responsibility for five other casinos in Northern Nevada, which are not non-smoking.
“We are not taking a position to be smoke-free everywhere and for always. But this particular facility, in this particular market, in this particular location, we feel could be successful.
Nevada has an $11bn gambling industry but has so far firmly recognised that smoking goes with gambling. History shows that Reno had a non-smoking casino in the late 1980s, which closed down for lack of business.
Some casinos in the state set aside areas for non-smoking on the gambling floor but only one other has a total ban in the state, Bill’s Casino Lake Tahoe, which introduced a smoking ban in January 2007, operated by Harrah’s.
Said Marybel Batjer for Harrah’s: “Our position is that we would be very supportive if everyone were to go in this direction, but it is very hard when you are adjacent to another property, a competitor, and they have an offering that you don’t.”
Nevada has a smoking ban in most public places, but held off from applying it to casinos.
