Abstract
Despite California's 1994 statewide smoking ban, exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) continues in California's Indian casinos. Few data are available on exposure to airborne fine particles (PM₂.₅) in casinos, especially on a statewide basis. We sought to measure PM₂.₅ concentrations in Indian casinos widely distributed across California, exploring differences due to casino size, separation of smoking and non-smoking areas, and area smoker density. A selection of 36 out of the 58 Indian casinos throughout California were each visited for 1-3 h on weekend or holiday evenings, using two or more concealed monitors to measure PM₂.₅ concentrations every 10 s. For each casino, the physical dimensions and the number of patrons and smokers were estimated. As a preliminary assessment of representativeness, we also measured eight casinos in Reno, NV. The average PM₂.₅ concentration for the smoking slot machine areas (63 μg/m³) was nine times as high as outdoors (7 μg/m³), whereas casino non-smoking restaurants (29 μg/m³) were four times as high. Levels in non-smoking slot machine areas varied: complete physical separation reduced concentrations almost to outdoor levels, but two other separation types had mean levels that were 13 and 29 μg/m³, respectively, higher than outdoors. Elevated PM₂.₅ concentrations in casinos can be attributed primarily to SHS. Average PM₂.₅ concentrations during 0.5-1 h visits to smoking areas exceeded 35 μg/m³ for 90% of the casino visits.