Topic: Environmental Impact of Traditional or Land Base Casinos (Read 395 times)

Yes!
Physical casinos are big villains for the environment and online casinos have taken advantage of this problem to raise the "green flag" saying that they are much more sustainable.

This was good, because in contrast, many things have already changed in physical casinos...

Material recycling
Many casinos have started to adopt recycling practices to minimize the environmental impact of their business. This includes things like recycling waste, recycling oil and recycling construction materials.

Renewable Energy
Those bunch of colorful and flashy lights do in fact use a lot of energy, which is why nowadays it is difficult to find a casino that has not yet invested in renewable energy sources such as solar or wind energy to reduce their costs and also have a "lighter carbon footprint", thus improving their image in society.

Food sustainability
Even the way we eat has changed in many casinos, they are taking steps to make their businesses more sustainable when it comes to food too, including organic and locally sourced foods, as well as avoiding buying foods with excessive packaging.

These are some of the changes I have noticed in Argentine casinos (which I have visited recently) and in the reports of other people.

Unfortunately, there are no physical casinos in Brazil, but I would like to know if this has actually happened worldwide, as I hope that physical casinos will never be completely replaced by online casinos.

What?

The mission why someone create a casino is to make money, not to support green and renewable energy. As long as the casino not owe anything and they paid the utility bills, they will not have any problem to consume a lot water and non renewable energy.

The casino will not bear the gamblers losses because they have self exclusion feature, but they need to make sure there are no underage gambling in their casino.

I was even thinking you would mentioned about their taxation, yes most times the reason casino owners do not care about the environmental impact and implications of running such casino that they are already remitting their tax to the government. So most of them do not care about the environmental effects if it would affects people negatively or positively, and for the negative effects government would never allow them to operates if the effects is deadly to human life except they see its as something minor and also remitting their taxes. Most of the owner do not care about human Beings because they mostly focused on the profits they derives from the business and after they pays their staffs and that is all.

I have not paid much attention to this but I doubt if land based casinos care about the kind of environmental impact they create. What they are mostly after is the success of their business and perhaps since they are operating with license, if there's any charge given to them by the authority, they could just pay it off.
  For example, there's one headline news I saw, it's about a man that was doing fish farm in a residential environment and he doesn't take good care of the place which therefore causes bad smell that's usually  unpleasant to people living around. So, he was being reported to the environmental agency of the country and instead of them to stop him, he bribed them off.

So, the casino might not really care about the environmental impact but if there's a negative impact they are causing, they will be answerable to the authority.

I think what OP meant was not something like that, the consequences, the impact of gambling that is done is a clear risk that we must bear ourselves, whether it is losing a large amount of money, losing assets because they are sold or others, because it is the result of our own actions that are carried out based on our own awareness.

In addition, if you say that the casino is responsible for what happens to its players, I think that is impossible, in fact there is no certainty that the casino will bear what happens to its players such as bankruptcy or others, Gambling is something that is risky and this is clear but the risk itself can be minimized by ourselves, who respond to it as it is. If we can be wise, the risk will not be too great.

Let me ask you first, do you know how much these casinos make that they can't solve all these problems and have more than enough to keep the casino up and running? Electricity, waste management, water supply to mention a few others you highlighted. All of these things are not important or a problem to the casino. Even a house owner can manage all these bills talk more of a casino that has millions of dollars in it.

If damages keep happening to people visiting the casino regularly because of these factors, then the casinos will lose lots of customers. But who cares, same way they don't care about how the gambler loses money even under some environmental circumstances. This is why I would prefer online casinos any day and any time.

While a casino will definitely use more resources and this can have an environmental impact, at the same time I do not really see the need to worry about it, there are many other industries that represent a way bigger impact, and it is why governments all around the world set additional taxes to those industries, while the special taxes casinos have to pay are sin taxes, which are imposed to businesses that foment a behavior the government believes can be harmful to their citizens.

I would say land base casino don't really have an impact on it's environment unless they are going against regulations that might lead to them having problem with their environment. They would always do their mitigation risk to avoid been closed down by the state authorities.

If the count is 0.1 it is too small in my opinion, however, business developers will definitely pay attention to the environment, more or less will definitely produce waste that is produced, but how much is no more than a shop that operates 24 hours, the same and of course they also provide a disposal site or pay a cleaning tax to deal with this.

Cleanliness in casinos is certainly very concerned, then they sell food and drinks which must have been prepared without disposal, also waste from other activities must have been calculated very well to but operate in accordance with the regulations allowed by the local government, because in a region has rules in the implementation of business operations.

Realistically any big business would never think about it because a company would only think about how to make more money from their business and would not have time to think about the impact.
Well, it is the same as land based casinos which most likely do not have this kind of thinking and even if there are casinos that care about the environmental impact, it is only 0.1 casinos in the world that we will not be able to find.

If we think about how land based casinos operate, there might be a lot of energy waste that they do, but I don’t think that casino owners and the government care about that, I mean when casino owners make a lot of money from it and the government gets a lot of taxes from this industry, they will put those issues aside and prioritize money. That is the reality. But even so, land based casinos are still needed and are a source of income and entertainment for many people, so when discussing this issue it might be a bit complicated.

Well it's very certain that the casinos are not really bothered about making any impact to the environment cause whatsoever risks they have undergone just to make sure the land based casino it's at the level it is now is only based on the fact that they want the gamblers to be at a comfortable place while having fun cause this is the medium in which they make more funds to the casino.

All I know is a business should be environment-compliant to be able to run a business, and for every gallon of water and kwh of electricity they've used, they pay for it so these providers of water and electricity continue to produce. This is a cycle of business; they pay their taxes, employ people, and serve their clients. If the government sees that, they are contributing to an environmental hazard; their operation will be shutdown. So far, the majority of land-based casinos operate on a business level. I have not read of casinos being shut down for the harmful environmental impact they produce.

Do you think that the casinos are the ones to be responsible for any of our misfortunes at the cause of gambling, everyone of us is at his own risk, we are to plan and prepare for what we want in gambling, any environmental impact received will be held responsible on us and not the gambling platform, because we are the ones that go to them, uses their services and gamble, we should also be able to manage the risk involved as well as the environmental impacts, they cant do anything to mitigate risk on behalf of the gamblers because that is going to be a short on them from meeting up their targets, except we do so from our own end.

To be honest, it seems to me that you are doing the wrong things. If you really want to help the environment of our planet, then do some real work, fortunately, in almost any point of our planet there is something to do to preserve the environment in its original form (if you can call it that) for as long as possible. There are a huge number of businesses in the world that do not comply with the standards for emissions, waste disposal, etc. Why you are interested in this issue, specifically the gambling sphere, remains a big question for me.

If in your post the word "casino" is replaced with "factory", "plant" or other manufacturing enterprise, nothing will change in principle. As long as the "enterprise" brings in income and pays taxes, no one cares about the threat it creates to the environment. Casinos have a lot of money, which makes it easy to bribe the necessary authorities (in those countries where this is possible). What am I getting at? Because casino owners don't care about the problems they create for the environment and are only concerned about profit. The only measures casinos take to reduce environmental risks are to bribe officials from regulatory agencies who cover up their "dark deeds" related to the environment.

The casino pays for all those services that you have mentioned and it's left for government workers in those various offices to do their job properly making sure that their is availability of electricity and water. Casinos pay their taxes and don't forget that there are also some benefits that people living in that environment will benefit from the casino. Casino is a normal business like a big hotel which means there are other businesses that messes the environment up, and no one shows concern about it.

I really don't understand the point you are trying to make, everyone makes us of electricity so how casinos consuming too much power or using too much of other resources? When it comes to use of electricity, water and so on you should be concerned about factories and industries more. Land base casinos has no form of environmental impact, so this is quite inaccurate. Land based casinos can cause socialtal and mental damage but environmental impacts isn't one of the negativities of this. Well, you still expressed the topic in an intelligent manner.

Less than 10% casinos in Europe have swimming pools and most of them are in the hotels that the casino is part of it, in most capitals even Paris and London, having a physical casino with a swimming pool is rather an expectation than the rule, go more eastwards and you probably won't find one at all. All of what you quote there is for the US, in the rest of the world nothing comes close to that and if you again look at te amount of electricity and spare capacity the US has it all starts to really fade away into insignificance.


A casino that is operated only during daylight time, it's all made out of wood, the drinks are room temperature because let's not waste energy on ice, and obviously has no air conditioning, how long do you think it will stay in business? I don't see an influx of hippies gambling to keep the business afloat

Nah, it’s like typical business that consumes energy. There’s factory that consume more energy in regular basis which still operates without any problem despite environmental impact so I doubt they will think about their own environmental impact that is far lesser.

I think they are more concerns on the impact to the community life since casino is always the cause of addiction. This is why most of the casino has a responsible gambling terms to educate their players to gamble responsibly.

We know how bad climate change is getting and if we want to protect the environment, we all need to collaborate and make efforts into still doing the things we do but with better environmental protection. This has come up a lot in the gambling sector and I have seen some of them take actions already. There have been numerous studies about the impact of casinos in the environment which is why there has also been found solutions for it.

Land-based casinos are turning green by using environmentally friendly products and renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Many casinos partner up or sponsor organizations that has environmental sustainability at their core.

Just for example, Caesar’s Palace at Las Vegas plans on becoming carbon neutral before 2050. They have updated their HVAC systems and converted lights to L.E.D which are steps to becoming more environmentally friendly. They are also aware of the harmful impacts of improper waste disposal and are actively working on ways to efficiently and properly manage it.

New land-based casinos are also being designed and built using environmentally friendly approaches. Locally produced sustainable materials are used, and structures are planned to maximize natural light. These casinos frequently have rainwater collecting systems or solar roof panels as green energy sources.

You raise a good point and many casinos have already started getting environmentally conscious. It will be a long journey but the journey to a greener future has already started and best believe that the gambling industry is not getting left behind.

Electricity usage is not exclusive or limited to physical casinos alone, as a matter of fact I believe that many other types of establishments will use more electricity than land based casinos. What about hotels and factories that works day and night shifts, I'm sure that you can not compare casino power usage to them, and there's hardly anything in this present age that doesn't require electricity to function. If you think that the physical casinos are wasteful with electricity and water that means that every other businesses that functions round the clock are also wasteful.

They give a crap? Heck businesses give a crap about the environment? Pretty sure a large majority don't. And if we were to start nitpicking I'm pretty sure there are WAY more businesses out there that have the same problems, if they are problems in the first place that OP pointed out. Heck even individual homes (at least some) can be pointed out in that case if we were to match the scale of expenditure that an individual home has over casinos.

Unless the business damages the environment badly enough for the government to work, pretty sure they don't do any risk mitigation above the bare minimum.

pretty sure they do but don't really care about it as much as they care about making money. As for whether are they doing mitigation risk? I remember a thread on this board talking about CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility),  but as far as I know, it is not focused on environmental issues. CSR is basically a community service from companies where they are required(if the government or regulators require it) to do something for the society or community.

They don't care about that and even they cares, they will not do many things and will hire third party to clean up that while they can focus to make money. We don't know how big their waste because we are not doing research for that but maybe there are some organization that research on every business and report to the government. The impact from their business will be there but they will not thinks much about that so it needs awareness from the government to approach to them and talk with them to cares with the environment. But that will depends on how the government works on that so we can only see what will happen later.

Mixing holidays with gambling can be a complex and sensitive issue, depending on individual perspectives and cultural contexts. For those who love entertainment and socializing, gambling during the holidays could be added excitement and thrill and be a way to connect with others and enjoy their collective experiences.
While those who consider traveling during this period, it could be an economic boost in areas of tourism too.
Ultimately, whether mixing holidays with gambling is "good" or "bad" depends on individual circumstances, personal values, and responsible behavior.

Right, this could be the last thing that a business owner will think, to care about the environment. Of course it will be good if they did, or at least donate millions on some non-profit organizations about environment and others.

But if I'm a casino operators, I wouldn't prioritized this one, maybe there could be groups that will go against casinos, but this issues is the last one that they will have to deal. They will have to recoup first their capital and then make profits before thinking other parameters.

To be honest, you are right. Even if they’re aware about those negative environmental effects, they won’t care. All they care is about money and generate more money each and every day. And if ever there will be complaints, know that everything will be paid with money. That’s what the casino owner believes, so they’ll stick to it. Because in reality, the people around will only dare to make noise if they don’t receive proper compensation. But as long as money moves, everything get settled in silence.

Those are very negligible, probably a little higher than a commercial building like a restaurant so the environmental impact is not a big factor in my opinion.

Whereas it has social impact that is why it's restricted to operate in a school or even residence zone to avoid any disturbance to the public reside there, if we look at the environment impacts of every business then no one can run any business so people won't have jobs means there will be no circulation of money which will leads to the economic dysfuntion.

The casinos that exist today don't care about the environment at all, because they just try hard to make money. Because the new casino owners have come in since the previous owners have gone away and I think they don't realize it. 
Water and electricity can play a significant role so I think these casinos really don't have to worry about it.

There's no impact on the environment from having constant power supply and water and other necessities needed to keep a casino running because just like any business, those are necessities and without them there would be no profit or gains from the investment in such a business.

Casinos are made for business, they make lot of money but also spend lot of money on taxes and also various other expenses such as paying for electricity usage and also paying for environmental cleanliness, not caring about the impact on the environment because they have paid for everything needed to handle it.
But now everything has shifted online and of course there is not much negative impact on the environment as what are saying here, I think such concerns are too much and look at various other industrial businesses also have the same impact but they can still continue to operate.

I think it's not just the casino business that has an impact on the community environment, most big businesses like big factories that operate in the middle of the community also cause environmental damage, no one can be blamed if the business is legal and they pay taxes according to the rules, they only run a business that makes a profit for themselves, when it comes to environmental concerns, business people rarely pay attention, they only care about their own business so that it runs smoothly.

They already know about that because if not, the government will give sanction to them. And if they care about that, they will use renewable energy than using the same thing as the other casinos. They will promoting a usable of renewable energy and environmentally friendly place so that will make people comfortable when they playing gambling in that casino.

If you want to know more, you need to visit on each casino and ask to one of their employee to know for details. Most people who visit on the land base casino will not think about that because they only want to spend their time by playing gambling. They don't even thinks where the garbage will be deliver. As long as they can follow the instruction from the regulator, they will be fine and can operate their business without having a problem.

Of course, they will be conducting their risk mitigation. You painted these casinos standard and I don't see a standard organization that will not do that, even in many insane countries, they are still obliged to do it, especially if they are successful.

Also, these points you iterated above are not always an issue, some of them do not even have any impact on the environment, other businesses enjoy them too. But for those who have an impact on the environment like electricity generation, the country matters a lot and so does the regulation in the country. For instance, in my country, the electricity is so poor, so most businesses use a power generator, which is not environmentally friendly. But if electricity can be provided for them in a good country, it affects nothing so long as they pay their bills.

What business doesn't have impact to the environment anyway? I guess the environment is the least of the concerns of brick-and-mortar casinos. It's the concern primarily of the government agencies assigned to it.

For as long as casinos are compliant with the rules and regulations regarding proper waste disposal and other stuff that affect the environment, I guess that's enough. But if we expect them to be strong advocates of the environment, it isn't their line of business.

Even hotels and their factory industries are bigger in impacts such as waste, electricity use, water and to other environments, whereas traditional gambling will not be as big as hotels or other factories.

Why we point to casinos is because they are always viewed negatively, which assumes that casinos are only concerned with profits without caring about others, but I believe traditional casinos already have several sections assigned to manage waste and others.

I think land-based casinos that operate have thought about this, because of course before they build or establish a casino, they definitely open a discussion first with the government in their country and of course in this discussion it seems that electricity, water or other issues are also discussed. As far as I know, land-based casinos that operate tend to be very clean and free from garbage, which indicates that they are well disciplined, and so do I think with responsibilities outside the casino.

Maybe there are also casinos that don't care about the environmental impact of their casinos, but that's an irresponsible act, right? Casino owners should be able to take care of everything properly because that way of course it's for the good of their own business in the future. For example, now there are land-based casinos that don't take care of their garbage, in other words they throw garbage carelessly somewhere, I think that will be a problem where there might be complaints from the surrounding community to the government and of course this could be a problem for their business.

There are positive and negative environmental impacts from casinos since you are asking if they are aware.
I think they are aware of the environment, but I don't think they care about the impact of the casino on the environment. I don't see any news here in my country for the positive impact of casinos on the environment; almost negative impact is what I see on the news.
I am more confident if they give more donations for local community benefits than fixing those negative environmental impacts.

The only land-based casino that I know in this part of the world is called ground casino, and this casino is located in one of the most luxurious hotels in the country's capital city, for that, whatever services that the casino or customers enjoy being paid for and for sure it a service and the casino will still generate the return from their customers one way or the other, and that should not be a thing that gamblers should worry too much trying to debate what the level of impact of operating a casino within an establishment, because gambling on it own is a business that generates its income and by so doing, they transfer the debt burdens to the end users which is the gambler.

Some of the few impact of the presence of a physical casino within a premises may not be limited to those we have to mentioned such as environmental pollution due to the activities cominyfrom those gambler's visiting the casino and other businesses that are run in the casino environment.

I don't know about the risk of physical casinos in our environment but I could share what effects the cockpit near us brings whenever it's open for gambling. (Mondays and Tuesdays, they have big events)
1. Garbage is the first one. Since many people will attend the events and gamble, trash is all over the place especially those who eat outside since there are really no food stores inside the cockpit.
2. Heavy traffic. Cars and motorcycles are parked everywhere and sometimes they will even go as far as our subdivision to park their car although there's a parking lot allotted by the cockpit. The problem is they all don't fit there, especially in big events.
3. Noises. Every corner near the cockpit there are people talking loudly discussing the fight that happened and you will hear a lot of curses from their mouths.

I think it’s essential that casinos and businesses in general take responsibility for their environmental impact. Some resorts and casinos have started implementing eco-friendly practices, like using energy-efficient lighting or investing in renewable energy. However, there’s still much progress to be made, especially in waste management and water conservation.

Bitcoin mining actually gets more criticism than running casinos when it comes to energy use. As for water, there’s really no issue since 3/4 of the earth’s surface is covered with it, so there’s enough supply for everyone. When it comes to electricity, sure, they consume a lot, but we have plenty of sources, and with modern advancements, the government has already found ways to prevent any potential shortage.

The answer to all your questions is no. Traditional land based casinos are just like hotels. Most of them don care about going green or the environment. They just want to make money. Besides I don't think they are causing any harm to the environment as long as they are not polluting the environment through noise, gases, liquid waste etc If at all they leave any carbon footprint, it is too minimal to melt an ice.

..But the truth is, nobody really cares about what happens after 'em rack are made... The governments don't even look at the negative effect of anything they pass into the system either,...as long as it generates an internal revenue, they're good with it.
Lastly, a gambler that makes a huge amount of profit for himself every week wouldn't even support this motion... If this was supposed to be passed to law and, say people had the privilege to give their personal reviews, it'll be voted out and trashed within minutes.
A standard casino that has all improvised facilities in their possession? a casino that welcomes some set of inspection authorities to write a review and take video evidences to the government doesn't have a proper waste disposal system?? You must be joking.^{[Mind you,this isn't about the small, makeshift casinos....]}
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It's business for this casinos and for sure they could have hired someone already to look at this kind of issues. Or maybe get some license to the government itself before they can established their casinos in any country.

But it's good to hear that someone raises this concern. And it's obvious that the OP is talking about casinos because we are all gamblers here. And perhaps we could have been thinking this as well. I remember one casino that gives free bottled drink before, and so I saw a lot of people really taking a lot and bringing it at home. Perhaps the casino find it out and so they cut this freebies.

Some wash room uses recycle water as well if I'm not mistaken. So they really do their due diligence because they know that they will be a target by this environmental groups.

That’s not really an issue, since casinos are relatively few in number. If they had a big negative impact on the environment, the government would have already stepped in or denied them licenses. Casinos are like hotels or entertainment venues, and in return, they pay huge taxes. Those funds can be used to improve infrastructure, like increasing water and electricity sources, so it’s a win-win for both sides, really nothing to worry about.

There aren't many land based casinos available to claim they are a major threat to the environment. Also, if we follow this logic, we are going to have to stop every means of production and transportation in the world aiming to fight carbon emissions increasements. In the end everyone would be living like tribesmen in the stone age without resources, accessibility and comfort. Let casinos build their fancy structures, architectures and aesthetics. The lights and colors they put on their buildings inspire and motivate good vibes on those who watch that.

Almost everybody uses electricity constantly and also uses water every day, so why are the casinos being singled out? How about malls and restaurants? hotels? literally every business out there uses electricity all day and many more use water too so I don't see why this is something the casinos should be looking at. 
I understand that we should take care of our planet, but is there an alternative to electricity? You don't expect the casinos not to use electricity and water anymore. But if you want to hold the casinos responsible for consuming electricity, you have to include every other businesses and individuals that uses electricity every day.

This is like asking about the 24/7 restaurants and fast foods in operation, the same goes for the plantations, factories, etc. There's always the environmental impact for all of these operations even if they don't wholly yield something in relation of the mother nature but with the consumption that all of them to provide service to their customers just as what you've said. I don't think that they are all aware of it because what comes to their minds is that everything is paid and after that, they're good to go.

All these are normal in places humans are.

If the source of electricity is not from green energy, likely the country is responsible for that. Know that homes and businesses in the country will also use the non-green energy, not only the casinos.

Does this only applies to the casinos in gambling, what about the other sectors of the economy they where being populated and yet contributed in a number of waste product to the environment and we are not giving attention on them.

Also, if we are to look into the way online gambling is taking over the physical casino gambling, i can say that even if such exist, that will be on a low level approach because most of the gambling casinos have finances to carter for building a modern waste disposal mechanism or medium for their customers, except in rural areas where things are yet to advance to that extent.

I don't really think a casino cares about environmental impact. They care about making money. Think about it, by the time the impact is seen the owners of the casino will likely be dead and new owners will be running the place. Why would they care about consequences they won't see?

I haven't see a topic discussed here about the environmental effects of land base casinos. Do you guys think that they also contributed or has impact to the environment as we all know that they are operating 24x7, consuming water and obviously electricity, a high energy demands.

So with that, this business is operates using substantial amounts of electricity for their slot machines and aircon and could really put a lot of strain as there is a constant need for electricity 24x7. And what if the source of energy comes for non-renewable sources? it could lead to higher carbon emissions.

Another could be the high water consumption, this casinos have large swimming pools and so there is the demand. We could question them if there is water scarcity in a country wherein this casinos have been built.

We could also look at waste generation, do you know how big casinos disposed those substantial waste that their visitor creates? There could be large volumes of waste produce daily but we don't know if they have a proper safe waste disposal system.

Do you think that this casinos are aware of this impact that they can have to the environment?

If yes, are they doing mitigation risk?