It's been 13 years since smoking was banned in most workplaces in California, but there is one place left where many people regularly light up a cigarette – and that's tribal casinos.
Smokers, however, appear to be in a minority when it comes to gamblers in Southern California – a recent survey by J.D. Power and Associates found that 85% of gamblers would prefer casinos to be a no-smoking environment. The survey questioned around 1,700 gamblers in the state.
California regulations don't apply on Indian land, so the casinos are not obliged to go smoke free, but J. D. Power and Associates pointed out in their report that casinos have a good opportunity to get more custom if they make the decision. To date, only one tribal casino in the area has made the decision to go totally smoke free, although some casinos have expanded their non-smoking space in response to customer demand.
One such casino is the Sycuan Resort and Casino in El Cajon, who have converted one quarter of their gaming floor to a non-smoking wing. Other casinos have followed suit, but in some there are no barriers between the smoking and non-smoking areas, leading to confusion and embarrassment for customers.
Casinos in other states have found that revenues dropped when they made the switch to smoke free, so it's a difficult balance. Sending smokers outside to get their fix means that they are spending less time gambling, but making them feel unwelcome inside, or having poor separation causes it's own issues. It seems the burden falls to each individual casino to target their own market.
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