How Justin Mills Took On Las Vegas Casinos to Ban Indoor Smoking

Every year, more than 40 million people pass through Las Vegas casino resorts. And despite decades of progress banning indoor smoking in restaurants, offices, and public spaces across the country, casinos remain one of the last places where lighting up indoors is still perfectly legal.

I recently sat down with my friend Justin Mills, a legal scholar with a JD, who decided that needed to change. I’ve known Justin for more than a dozen years now. We’ve been on lots of adventures all over the place, and when I learned what he was doing, I knew I had to have him on the show.

A personal mission

Justin’s motivation is deeply personal. His grandfather on his father’s side died from smoking in his 40s. His father, who never smoked, developed macular degeneration from secondhand smoke exposure. His maternal grandfather passed away from emphysema.

“I know firsthand the really harmful effect it can have, just through my own family,” Justin told me.

For years, like most people, he accepted indoor casino smoking as just the way things were. That changed one day at the Venetian in Las Vegas when he overheard other patrons complaining about the smell of smoke. It got him thinking, and with his legal background, he started digging.

The legal loophole

Here’s what blew my mind. The Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act generally prohibits indoor smoking in all public places. But there’s an exemption that removes that protection specifically for casino resorts, which is exactly where the public congregates in the largest numbers.

I asked Justin to explain it simply. If smoking is banned everywhere indoors, how are casinos getting away with this? His answer was striking: it appears to just be casino preference. There’s no legitimate government interest behind it. Nobody has ever even argued one.

I said to him, “What if I open a restaurant and say it’s more profitable for me to allow people to smoke? I’m not a cigar lounge, just a regular restaurant where kids and families come too. Couldn’t I do the same thing?” And Justin confirmed that no, I wouldn’t be permitted to do that. Only casino resorts get the exception.

Taking on the system

Justin filed his own constitutional challenge, which is currently pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The appellate court denied the motion to dismiss, ruling the case should go forward. That’s a significant early victory.

And he’s not alone. In January 2026, the appellate court of New Jersey ruled in favor of a similar constitutional challenge brought by an organization representing New Jersey casino workers, reversing the trial court’s initial dismissal.

Justin told me he wrote a paper in 2025 predicting that in a matter of years, all of these exemptions would be eliminated through constitutional challenges. It looks like that prediction is coming true.

The human cost

The stakes here are enormous, and I don’t think most people realize it. Casino dealers and employees spend 40 or more hours a week surrounded by secondhand smoke. Every exposure introduces benzopyrene, which induces DNA damage and accelerates aging, regardless of whether a specific disease develops.

“We’re talking about thousands of years of life lost from the cumulative exposure,” Justin told me. “It’s staggering.”

I think about this. I’m meeting a friend later today who’s staying at The Cosmo. I know that when I see him, he’s probably going to smell like smoke. You meet a friend who’s been in a casino, and they have that smell on them. I don’t care how good your ventilation system is, you can’t get rid of that. And if you can smell it, it’s doing harm.

David vs. Goliath

I asked Justin if he’s ever been afraid. You wouldn’t want to be a Boeing safety engineer, right? When whistleblowers were coming out about Boeing, weird things started happening to them. He told me it was never really a concern for him.

What I find incredible is that Justin is one guy. He’s not a mega corporation. He’s taking on this huge industry that’s had this law in place for years, affecting 40 million people annually, and he’s actually winning. And he’s not even getting paid for this. If he wins, it’s not like he gets a million dollars. He’s doing it for public health and because of his family.

A bigger lesson

Justin’s fight carries a message beyond casino smoking, and this is what I really want people to take away. Everyone can see things that are wrong, things that are clearly wrong and that you can’t justify. But if everyone else is just going along with it because “that’s the way it is,” eventually someone has to say, “This isn’t right.”

I see the same thing in my own work. The problem I’m trying to solve is why schools are graduating millions of students every year who aren’t ready for AI and don’t have jobs. They come out with a degree, but the degree doesn’t equal a job. That seems like something pretty wrong. And just like Justin’s fight, the solution is obvious once you actually look at it.

Justin believes that years from now, people will look back at indoor casino smoking with disbelief. “Can you believe they allowed indoor smoking where 40 million people congregated?” he said. “That’s what people are going to say. It’s just a matter of time.”

What it comes down to

I asked Justin for his final words, and he kept it simple.

“It comes down to doing what’s right.”

I hope everyone who reads this is inspired by Justin’s example. If you think something is a problem bigger than you, and you’re just one person, look at what Justin Mills has done. You might be inspired to take action, whatever challenge you’re facing in your life.

Appreciate you, Justin. You’re awesome.