Palms Casino Resort, located off the Las Vegas Strip, announced it will open a new smokefree slots area. Unlike most others in Las Vegas, it will be a separate room closed off from smoking areas, preventing smoke from entering. It opens on Monday, August 24, 2026.
The new smokefree slots space will be next to the William Hill sportsbook. This area was previously home to Mabel’s BBQ. It will have 224 machines and add 7,300 square feet to the casino floor. A new smokefree full-service bar will also be included in the space.
Table games will not be dealt in the new room. The pits and high-limit table game room will still permit smoking.
Nearby Locals Casinos Also Have Non-Smoking Slots Areas
Palms’ closest competitors also have non-smoking areas. However, these are not separated from smoking areas. On the other hand, most have large sections for it that keep smokers distanced from those who prefer to be away from it.
Gold Coast, across Flamingo Road from Palms, offers a large non-smoking slots area on the west side of its casino. It includes the live keno lounge.
Rio’s Masquerade side of the casino has about 100 slot machines, including a bar, in nonsmoking areas. Palace Station has two nonsmoking slot areas. One is on the east side of the casino past the baccarat stadium. The other is near the front desk. The one past the baccarat stadium has “Up to 99.8%” and 100% video poker machines. The one by the front desk has the 99.8% machines.
Rampart has the only non-smoking table game pit in the locals market. Park MGM, on the Las Vegas Strip, is entirely smoke-free.
The West Off-Strip Casino Market Has Become Very Competitive
Palms is in a highly competitive market. The casino now has $5 10x craps and 3:2 blackjack 24/7. Many video poker machines have games that return over 99%. Palms offers a $500 points chase to new players, meaning there are tiers of points earned that reward free slot play.
Across the street, Gold Coast also offers $5 craps and has 3:2 double-deck blackjack. Its video poker is even better than what Palms offers. Rio deals $3 craps from 3am to 3pm daily and has a few machines left with full-pay Jacks or Better and other 99% and better video poker games. The Orleans and Palace Station also offer some of the best video poker in the west off-Strip market and many 3:2 blackjack tables.
Yaamava’ Resort & Casino Is Nearly Entirely Smokefree
The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation owns and operates Palms in Las Vegas. It is also the owner of Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland, California, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. California’s statewide smoking ban does not apply to tribal land.
Yaamava’ Resort & Casino voluntarily banned indoor smoking on its property after reopening from the pandemic closure and never returned to being a smoking casino. However, a heated gaming patio allows smoking. It has about 100 slot machines. They also have a Smoking & Gaming slots room adjacent to the parking lot shuttle drop off spot, which has nearly 100 additional machines.
Aside from those air-separated locations, the casino floor and most other parts of the property, including the hotel, are completely smokefree. The smokefree casino space features more than 7,200 machines across two levels.
The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation acquired Palms from Station Casinos in December 2021. The casino had been closed since March 2020, when it reopened on April 27, 2022. It was the first Las Vegas casino owned and operated by a tribe. At the time, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment operated the casino at Virgin. That agreement has since ended.
In 2022, the Seminole Tribe of Florida acquired The Mirage from MGM Resorts. The casino closed in 2024 for a massive remodel and is expected to open in late 2027.
Learn more about nonsmoking gaming in Las Vegas and other parts of the country in our smoke-free casino section. The section includes a link to a locator where you can find smokefree options closest to you.
Will Brian be spending more time at the Palms while in Vegas now?
We don’t have any news to share on that at this time, but we certainly keep an eye on these developments for future planning consideration.
About time that smoking is banned.Congratulations
Come to AZ again!
All Gila River Casinos are smoke free!
Harrahs just revamped with a smoking area
I wish casinos offering smoke free areas would ensure they were actually smoke free. My local casino has a smoke free room, but to get to it from the parking area you go thru the smoking area, same if you were in the hotel( and it is a longer trek in smoke from the hotel) Even in the room, the 2 entrances open onto the smoking area, and the staff service hallway has no doors blocking the main floor smoke from the non smoking area
This is definitely an area that has a lot of room for improvement as well, Jim. It’s great that casinos aim to build out a separate space, even enclosed, but if you have to walk through all the smoke, or there’s still ways for smoke to get into the space, it doesn’t really completely solve the problem.