Palms Casino Resort is carving out a chunk of its casino floor for guests who want to gamble without breathing in cigarette smoke. The off-Strip property has announced it is adding a 7,300-square-foot dedicated non-smoking gaming area, a fully enclosed space with its own full-service bar, set to debut on August 24.
The new room will feature 224 of the newest and most popular slot games, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Caitlin Lilly. Kevin Glass said guest feedback consistently drove the expansion of Palms' non-smoking gaming options, describing the new space as combining more than 200 of the latest games, a dedicated bar and a new gaming experience.
Palms will follow the August 24 opening with an official grand opening on September 1, headlined by the “Spin It Forward” IGT Celebrity Charity Slot Challenge. Local personalities will compete on behalf of 10 Southern Nevada nonprofits, including Heaven Can Wait Animal Society, S.A.F.E. House and Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada, according to Casino City Times.
An Off-Strip Middle Ground Between Smoking and Smoke-Free
Palms Casino Resort has been recognized as one of the luckiest casinos in the country, per the same Review-Journal report — a reputation that got a boost in May when a local's $5 baccarat bet exploded into a $1 million score. But the resort's approach to smoking sets it apart from the one property on the Strip that has gone all the way smoke-free. Park MGM became the Strip's first and only fully smoke-free casino resort when it reopened in September 2020, banning smoking across its entire casino floor, hotel rooms, restaurants and public spaces, according to the Nevada Independent.
Palms is instead following a pattern seen elsewhere off-Strip and downtown: building an enclosed, ventilated room rather than converting the whole property. The Plaza Hotel & Casino downtown opened a similar dedicated, enclosed non-smoking slot gaming space in June 2023, becoming the first downtown property to do so, as reported by Vegas Advantage.
Why Nevada Casinos Can Still Allow Smoking
Nevada voters enacted the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act in November 2006, banning smoking in most indoor workplaces but explicitly exempting casino gaming floors where minors are prohibited, according to the Southern Nevada Health District. That exemption is why casinos can permit smoking on their main floors unless they voluntarily choose otherwise, and it explains why enclosed rooms like the one at Palms have become the preferred compromise for operators wary of a full ban.
The science on partial fixes is mixed at best. A 2024 study led by University of Nevada, Reno researchers found that casino ventilation systems remove smoke odors but fail to clear fine carcinogens, leaving secondhand smoke pollution in designated non-smoking areas of smoking-permitted casinos roughly 2.5 times higher than in fully smoke-free casinos, as reported by This Is Reno. That research suggests fully enclosed, independently ventilated rooms — like the one Palms is building — offer better protection than open sections on a shared casino floor.
Public Opinion And Investors Are Pushing For Change
Momentum for smoke-free gaming floors has been building on multiple fronts. A 2024 statewide poll by the Nevada Tobacco Control and Smoke-Free Coalition found more than two-thirds of 800 registered Nevada voters favor smoke-free casino floor policies, according to the Nevada Independent. In 2025, institutional shareholders backed by the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation introduced proposals at major gaming companies, including Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, Penn Entertainment and Wynn Resorts, demanding formal studies on the financial impacts of smoke-free policies — with nearly 20% of Penn Entertainment shareholders backing the study proposal.
National smoking rates have also hit historic lows. Adult cigarette smoking in the United States dropped to an all-time low of 11%, or roughly 1 in 9 adults, down from 42.6% in 1966, according to CDC data cited by the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.
Ownership And Labor Context At Palms
Palms Casino Resort is owned and operated by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians through the San Manuel Gaming and Hospitality Authority, which purchased the property for $650 million in 2021 and reopened it in April 2022 — making it the first Native American tribe to own and operate a casino resort in Las Vegas, per the Review-Journal's earlier reporting.
The property has also been a site of labor organizing in recent months. In February, front desk employees at Palms voted to join Teamsters, adding 34 agents to the union's existing footprint of roughly 100 workers at the resort. Palms has also hosted entertainment news this month, with Everest climber Darby Allin bringing a world title fight to the resort's Pearl Theater.
