West Virginia Casino Smoking Appeal Denied by County Officials
Posted on: May 16, 2025, 11:55h.
Last updated on: May 16, 2025, 12:10h.
- Mardi Gras Casino in West Virginia will remain smoke-free
- County officials denied a request to allow casino cigarette smoking
- Smoking is allowed in other WV casinos
A petition from a casino in West Virginia to allow indoor tobacco smoking in designated areas has been shot down by local officials.
West Virginia is home to five commercial casinos. Cigarettes and cigars are allowed in certain sections of the gaming floors in three of the five properties, with the odd facilities out being the Mardi Gras Casino & Resort in Nitro and The Casino Club at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs.
While The Greenbrier voluntarily forbids indoor smoking in its casino, Mardi Gras is prohibited from allowing tobacco use through a county ordinance. Owned and operated by New York-based gaming and hospitality giant Delaware North, representatives with the Mardi Gras Casino last October filed a petition with the Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health for permission to designate up to 10% of its gaming space for cigarettes only — not pipes, cigars, or vapes. The county health board this week denied the request.
Reading the financial impact certainly was impactful to me in terms of how it affects the community. But that said, this is not a chamber of commerce. We’re here for health,” Dr. Dara Aliff-Lao, an OBGYN, said before the vote.
“I feel like it would send the wrong message for a health department to rescind anything. I feel like once we start eroding things, they go away completely. We’ve seen that time and time again in other aspects of health,” Aliff-Lao added.
Smoking the Competition
Mardi Gras reps told the county health board that a gaming facility in Kentucky with slot-like historical horse racing (HHR) machines that opened in October 2023 with indoor smoking is hurting business.
Sandy’s Racing & Gaming, a $75 million entertainment facility in Ashland, is roughly an hour’s drive from Mardi Gras. Sandy’s features include 700 HHR machines and a BetMGM Sportsbook.
Lawmakers in Kentucky legalized HHR games in 2021. HHR machines look and sound like slots but are parimutuel wagering devices that calculate payouts based on previously run horse races.
Delaware North says Sandy’s is causing a significant drop in slot revenue. Mardi Gras is forecasting a 6% decline in annual slot revenue, or more than $3.2 million. That will lead to Kanawha County receiving about $66K less tax money this year.
Sandy’s offers a segregated smoking area and is able to draw and attract customers directly from the West Virginia market,” the casino said in its health board presentation in February.
Delaware North believes the county’s smoking ban keeps many would-be customers away, as West Virginia’s smoking rate of 25.2% is the highest in the nation.
It isn’t only Sandy’s that is impacting Mardi Gras, the presentation added. Delaware North said there are 14 counties in the “Mardi Gras Casino regional market” that allow indoor casino smoking.
Vote Not Unanimous
The Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health wasn’t unanimous in its decision not to allow Mardi Gras to designate a section of its gaming floor for cigarettes. Two board members, President Jeremy Nelson and Jessica Hudson, the only two non-doctors or nurses on the board, voted to allow Mardi Gras gamblers to light up.
“Mardi Gras has a huge impact on our community. They are at a disadvantage, and I think they’ve proven that the amount of people’s money that’s going across the state line is alarming,” said Nelson.
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