Atlantis Casino Resort Spa says effective Friday, May 27, 2016 its Race & Sports Book will be the first and only non-smoking Race and Sportsbook in Northern Nevada. Nonsmoking signs are already being placed around the race and sportsbook, and the rest will go up, Friday.
"I think everyone's going to welcome it," Kimberlee Tolkien, Atlantis Corporate Director of Marketing said. "We do still have plenty of areas in the casino to smoke, so it's not very inconvenient. It will be very comfortable."
Casino reps say its poker room was also the first to go non-smoking in Reno. Tolkien says smoke could still drift from other areas, but their multi-million dollar air-handling system filters most of it out, pumping up to 100 percent of its air from outside of the building.
"We're always on a quest to improve our guest's experiences," Tolkien said.
In addition, players have two non-smoking areas, 10 permanent non-smoking table games, and two non-smoking bars.
Reps says more than 90% of the guest rooms in Atlantis's towers are also non-smoking.
State law already prohibits smoking in restaurants and bars that serve food. This decision takes it one step further. Regulars, like Ann Thomas, say the move to clear the air of second-hand smoke is a great idea.
"I'm absolutely thrilled with it," Thomas said. "I think it will probably lose a few people but I think it will gain a lot more."
Officials say guests often fill out their suggestion cards, and making the race and sports book a nonsmoking area is a popular idea.
"We take those very seriously," Tolkien said. "There are a lot of guests who do not smoke. There's a lot of people that come over from California that don't smoke, and so this is just a natural progression."
Along with cigarettes and cigars, e-cigarettes will not be allowed, either.
