Nevada Casinos Could Become the Only Place Where Certain People Can Buy Cigarettes

Posted on: April 10, 2025, 02:04h. 

Last updated on: April 10, 2025, 09:35h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Two Nevada lawmakers want to ban anyone born after 2005 from purchasing cigarettes
  • The proposed bill would exclude casinos from the statute
  • The legislation faces long odds

Legislation in Nevada seeks to prohibit younger people from being allowed to purchase cigarettes in most places.

Nevada casinos cigarettes tobacco
A cigarette vending machine in Las Vegas. Legislation in Nevada seeks to ban all cigarette sales not only to anyone under the age of 21 but also to anyone born after Dec. 31, 2004. Nevada casinos would be excluded from the law. (Image: Reddit)

Assembly Bill 279 was introduced earlier this month by Clark County’s Democratic Assemblymembers David Orentlicher and Cecelia Gonzalez. The legislation seeks to ban all cigarette sales to people born on Jan. 1, 2005, or later. Currently, anyone aged 21 and older can legally purchase tobacco products in Nevada.

An individual who violates the proposed law would be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $100. A tobacco retailer that sells cigarettes to a person born after Dec. 31, 2004, would be subject to a fine of $100 for the first offense, with the penalty schedule ranging up to $10K for a fourth offense within two years.

Dubbed a generational ban on nicotine, Orentlicher, an attorney and physician who is the director of the UNLV Health Program, says smoking cigarettes is the most dangerous delivery method of nicotine.

There are alternative ways to get nicotine that aren’t nearly as harmful. We should ban the most harmful,” Orentlicher told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Jennifer Pearson, a professor of public health at the University of Nevada in Reno, added that the “fewer places there are to buy cigarettes, the less people smoke.”

Casino Carveout 

Like many state smoking laws across the country that prohibit the use of tobacco products in most indoor workplaces and public settings, AB279 would provide a carveout for gaming facilities. Orentlicher and Gonzalez’s bill would allow casinos and other gaming establishments possessing nonrestricted licenses to continue selling cigarettes to anyone aged 21 or older regardless of whether they were born after 2005.

Orentlicher explained that the loophole is to allow tourists to continue purchasing their smokes while visiting Las Vegas and other parts of the Silver State. The state lawmaker says Beverly Hills enacted a similar generational ban on cigarette sales in 2021. 

Nevada Cigarette Bill Faces Long Odds

AB279 has been directed to the Assembly Revenue Committee for initial consideration. The bill faces long odds of reaching the full Assembly floor.

Opponents say such a law would lead to black market sales where the cigarettes wouldn’t be subject to regulation. Others contend adults should be allowed to make their own decisions.

The Cigar Association of America and the Energy and Convenience Association of Nevada are among the trade groups that have spoken in opposition to AB279. A surprising opponent is the Nevada Tobacco Control and Smoke-Free Coalition (NTCSC), which told the RJ that it doesn’t support legislation that treats tobacco products differently.

The NTCSC claims recent studies suggest about six in 10 Nevada adults think smoking should be banned in all indoor casinos. The nonprofit also says amending the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act to extinguish its loopholes would result in annual healthcare cost savings of $500 million.   

The Clean Indoor Air Act carveout subjects almost 40% of Nevada’s workforce to secondhand smoke. Along with casinos and gaming taverns, the law provides exemptions for bars where minors are prohibited and food isn’t offered, retail tobacco stores, strip clubs and brothels, and convention floors at tobacco-related trade shows.