Casinos’ Slot Machines vs. Taverns’

With the passing of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, many bars that operate slot machines are unhappy that they can no longer have smoking in their establishments. The law states that if you have a restricted license – which means you have less than 15 slot machines – you cannot allow smoking in your establishment. If you have a non-restricted license – more than 15 slot machines and table games – you can allow smoking.

The bars say that the law is unconstitutional, in that they are being discriminated against for not having as many slot machines. They say they are the same business, and that the law should either ban smoking in the casinos as well, or not at all in the taverns where the slot machines are located. One of their arguments is that the ban says that if you serve food you cannot smoke, but the casinos serve food so they cannot see what the difference is.

The Nevada Resort Association ended up opposing the Tavern Owners Association saying that the equal protection argument was invalid – just because they both run slot machines does not make them the same entity. The bars said that they thought the casinos wanted the bars to have to follow the bill because then their smokers would come to the casinos to play the slot machines.

The casinos then said that the bars were trying to rile up the public to vote against the ban by saying that hotels and motels should be covered under the ban as well – but the bars denied the claims saying that they were just trying to get fairness in a bill that wasn’t.

Back to December Archive or Slot Machines