VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: Casinos Pump in Extra Oxygen

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Vegas Myths Busted” publishes new entries every Monday, with a bonus Flashback Friday edition. Today’s entry in our ongoing series originally ran on July 29, 2022.

One of the most enduring myths of Vegas is that casinos pump oxygen onto casino floors to keep players alert and increase their playing time. Could this be true or based partly in truth? And, if not, how did it start?

“The rumor regarding the pumping of oxygen into casinos is not true,” Tony Cabot, distinguished fellow in gaming law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told Casino.org.

 And there are several reasons why.

More importantly, adding more oxygen would create a fire hazard, because air with greater than the normal 21% oxygen is more of an accelerant, making any open flame burn hotter, faster, and at lower temperatures. The oxygen itself isn’t flammable.

This would violate all casino fire insurance policies, and if a fire were to occur, the investigation would lead to a public relations nightmare.

“Casinos do a number of things to encourage people to continue to play,” Cabot said. “But pumping in oxygen is not one of them. It’s just one of those myths about Las Vegas that people like to spread.”

Author You Can’t Refuse

This myth springs from the fertile imagination of Mario Puzo, the late author of “The Godfather.”

In Puzo’s 1978 novel, “Fools Die,” casino owner Alfred Gronevelt places a regular 2 a.m. call to his building engineer “to pump pure oxygen through the casino air-conditioning system to keep the gam­blers from getting sleepy.”

In the 45 years since the book’s publication, conspiracy theorists have circulated this fiction as fact. Even some legitimate media sources have joined in. One 2006 BBC article builds the myth up as true to make the point that “such psychological trickery would be banned in Britain.”

Casinos do fill the air with things to entice players to keep playing. These include loud music, pleasant scents, and freezing air-conditioning.

Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday on Casino.org. Visit VegasMythsBusted.com to read previously busted Vegas myths. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.