One of the more common urban legends is that casinos will pump in pure oxygen into the casino in an effort to keep players awake so they will gamble more and longer.
STATUS: Not real.
There are a number of practical reasons why casinos wouldn’t pump oxygen into a casino floor, not the least of which is the fact that it’s a flame accelerant, not a great thing when you’ve got smokers on the casino floor.
Casinos instead invest in good air filtration systems in an effort to make the air as clean as possible for non-smokers, especially in states where smoking is still allowed on the casino floor (states like Maryland and Massachusetts, which ban smoking indoors, are the exceptions still, not the rule).
Casinos also invest in fragrances that they pump into casinos to make them smell nice and welcoming, and while they were originally designed to mask odors, studies more recently have shown the right scent could increase returns.
In fact, casinos increasingly have scents that are as unique as the wild carpet patterns they use on casino floors. You can even buy the same scents used at many Las Vegas casinos.
So while oxygen isn’t pumped in to casinos to keep you awake, you’ll find casino companies do believe in the power of what you’re breathing in as a way to encourage you to stick around, and they use that along with other decisions to set up the best case scenario for themselves.
