Prairie Meadows casino could go smoke free

Smoking inside Prairie Meadows has been lowered to at least one part of the on line casino and even that space could go smoke-free in some unspecified time in the future, CEO Gary Palmer tells Axios.

• The present indoor smoking space makes up lower than 5% of the general on line casino house.

Why it issues: Prairie Meadows is the biggest on line casino in Iowa and its selections might affect the insurance policies at different playing amenities.

• Casinos throughout the nation are more and more adopting smoke-free insurance policies, citing worker and buyer security in addition to their long-term enterprise fashions, the New York Instances experiences.

Catch up quick: Casinos have been exempted from a 2008 Iowa legislation that made most public locations smoke-free.

• Prairie Meadows was briefly smoke-free after reopening through the pandemic in 2020.

What’s taking place: The on line casino does not observe smoking however Palmer estimates the quantity of its prospects who smoke has dropped from 60% to 25% within the final twenty years.

• There is not any instant plan to contemplate a whole ban however “I would not rule it out,” Palmer informed Axios.

Of observe: Prairie Meadows has spent thousands and thousands of {dollars} on air filtration techniques and believes smoke is essentially contained to the designated space, Palmer famous.

State of play: Iowa’s on line casino business has resisted legislative modifications in recent times to require their amenities to go smoke free, arguing they might lose prospects.

• Native American tribes have been faster to undertake a nationwide no-smoking motion in casinos, together with some in Iowa.

Between the strains: The business’s longtime paradigm assumed people who smoke performed extra.

• However that view excludes a big a part of the general public who do not wish to come to a smoky on line casino, the Instances reported.