Pot and Gold: Can the Two Find Happiness Together?

2016 was a banner year for those who advocate for the legalization of marijuana. The states of Colorado and Washington, which had previously legalized marijuana, were joined by four other states: California, Massachusetts, Maine, and Nevada. The other common factor that all of these states have is casino gambling, whether it be Native American or privately owned casinos. So one question of many that needs to be addressed as marijuana becomes more socially acceptable is: Just where and when can you use marijuana? In particular, what should the policy of casino operators be with regards to the use of marijuana while a patron is in their casino?

Many advocates of marijuana maintain that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol. So, perhaps one easy option for casino operators is to regulate the use of marijuana in the same manner that they regulate the consumption of alcohol. The usual restrictions placed on alcohol, such as who can legally purchase it, when and where a patron uses alcohol, and what they may do while they are under the influence, would be in place.

So far so good! But, there is a slight problem. Many users of marijuana smoke using joint papers, pipes, or vaporizers. Marijuana is intoxicating (like alcohol) but it also could be annoying to other patrons who might find the aroma of marijuana displeasing. So, marijuana might very well fall under restrictions of both alcohol and tobacco products.

In one way, it is a problem easily solved. If a state has smoking prohibition laws, then the casino could rule out the smoking of marijuana based on these anti‐secondhand smoking laws. But, when you are trying to attract a new generation of gamblers, namely millennials, the “prohibition” solution might alienate this potential group of customers. Perhaps one solution would be that casino operators might set aside a “smoker's lounge” for marijuana. In many ways, this is the Amsterdam solution. There, one can smoke marijuana only in established areas. It's unclear whether or not this would be an acceptable compromise for millennials (and perhaps a goodly number of older patrons!) who now find marijuana a perfectly acceptable form of entertainment.

There are a few other issues that casino operators would have to address. First, would casino operators obtain licenses to sell marijuana much as they have licenses to serve alcohol? Would states that permit recreational marijuana want to make their casinos competitive with other states by allowing the sale of marijuana in casinos?

All of this leads to the issue of the form in which marijuana is to be sold. As was pointed out earlier, the smoke or even vapor from marijuana use could be irritating to patrons. But, suppose the state has permitted the sale of “edibles” (i.e., marijuana included in candy bars, brownies, or various other foods). Would casinos ban this sort of consumption? Could the casino try to sell edibles but assure the user that the THC level in these edibles would be at a tolerable level?

The preceding dilemma brings us to the next problem with casinos and marijuana. While casinos are responsible to not sell alcohol to someone who is clearly drunk, what would the casino's liability be for impaired driving due to the use of marijuana? Regulating impaired driving due to the use of marijuana is an interesting issue: currently, there is no test like the blood alcohol content (BAC) test for alcohol. Marijuana stays in the blood for several days, even weeks, so could a user sue a casino for selling that user marijuana when it led to impaired driving?

Conclusion: The casino industry has always been evolving in terms of what is permitted and offered to its customers. It was one of the last venues where cigarette smokers (for that matter, cigar smokers!) were welcome. While alcohol is still available to patrons, casinos are well aware of the drunk‐driving issue as well as other impairment issues due to alcohol. But, it would be a bit ironic if the casino industry was one of the first to welcome the use of marijuana on its premises.

While the possibilities of enticing a younger crowd to frequent a casino would be an interesting prospect for a casino operator, it might alienate some of its older customers. Setting aside valuable space for a marijuana smoking lounge could be a topic for an interesting cost‐benefit analysis. But, casino operators also face a possible liability issue if they sell marijuana to consumers just as they do with the sale of alcohol.

So, the marijuana issue combines the problems of both tobacco and alcohol, but marijuana also presents to casino operators the chance to prove to millennials that they understand their desires that may be, in many ways, different than those of their parents. It is probably true of every generation. Marijuana does represent an interesting challenge for the casino industry.