Las Vegas casinos tightening smoking policies at table games

Several Las Vegas casinos are limiting smoking to keep patrons from removing the protective face masks they are required to wear.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. in mid-June updated its policy to ask table game players and spectators do not smoke or vape in its Venetian and Palazzo resorts, the Associated Press reports. 

Wynn Resorts Ltd. has designated any table games without a plexiglass barrier as nonsmoking areas inside its Wynn and Encore casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. For table games with the barriers, gamblers are required to wear a mask unless they are smoking. Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver said the company’s policy evolved since the casinos’ June 4 reopening.

Caesars Entertainment told FOX5 that “casino customers may continue to drink or smoke subject to existing rules, but they must wear a mask per our new policy. To enjoy a drink or a smoke, customers should simply lower their mask, drink or smoke, and then lift their mask back into place.”

MGM Resorts said patrons will be permitted to smoke, provided proper protocols are in place. “Certain table games and areas on our slot floors have been designated non-smoking. Additionally, certain table games require patrons to step back six feet from the table to smoke,” the company said, as reported by FOX5.

The changes come as Nevada's mask mandate has been in place for more than two weeks, coronavirus cases rise across the state and as Governor Steve Sisolak rolled back reopenings for bars. Last week, the Southern Nevada Health District encouraged businnesses to develop tobacco-free policies to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which is known to spread via respiratory droplets.

Nevada on Wednesday reported 849 new cases of COVID-19, a decline from a day earlier, when the state set a new daily high of 1,104 cases.