This article reports the results of a randomized trial of a smoking cessation programme for self-reported smokers among employees of a large multinational company based in USA. The aim was to find out whether offering strong financial incentives for abstinence that are increased substantially after the final 9-12 months of participation would result in higher 9-month to 1-year abstinence rates than reported by earlier studies. The concept behind paying people to stop smoking was to offer a tangible reward for doing something that is in their long term interest but requires a sacrifice of an immediate source of gratification.