Opinion: N.J. non-smoking casino worth paying attention to
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the March 28, 2012, Reno Gazette-Journal.
When the $2.4 billion Revel casino resort opens in Atlantic City on Monday, it will include a spa, 14 restaurants, 10 pools and a theater that seats 5,050 people.
Nevada casinos have spas, restaurants, pools and theaters, of course, many of them just as nice as those in the Revel.
But Revel will have one feature that no major Nevada casino can match: It will be totally nonsmoking, the first in New Jersey and one of the few anywhere in the U.S.
There’s no doubt that it’s a gamble for a resort that a couple of years ago appeared unlikely to be completed. (It took state tax incentives to get the job finished.) The few times Nevada casinos have experimented with a no-smoking policy, they’ve failed, and casino owners here have long argued that gambling and smoking are inseparable.
If Revel is successful, however, it could mark the beginning of a welcome revolution in gaming. Nevada casino owners should watch it closely.