Former WSOP Champion fights for smoking ban

He managed to make the WSOP smoke free and now he has his goal set on banning smoking in Las Vegas casinos. As a spokes person for Gamblers Against Secondhand Smoke poker author and former world champion Tom McEvoy is going head to head with the Las Vegas executives to create a smoke free casino environment for players and dealers.

McEvoy's engagement begun when he had to quit playing poker because of allergic reactions to second hand smoke at the table, but what really made him angry were the smoking related deaths of poker playing friends, including one who wasn't even a smoker.

Gamblers Against Second Hand Smoke was started by the gambler Stephanie Steinberg, who has been behind a smoking ban in casinos in Colorado in January and is working toward a ban in Atlantic City casinos. Steinberg's commitment begun after conversations with casino workers in Colorado, who said that the smoke in the casinos really bothered them but they where afraid to raise the issue with their employers. She started Smoke-Free Gaming of Colorado, engaging both gamblers and casino workers.

Steinberg got McEvoy engaged in the cause and there sight is set on banning smoking in the Las Vegas casinos. The casinos have been reluctant arguing that there business would decrease, but the smoking ban in WSOP 2004 tells a different story and the attendant has increased a lot since.

"Casinos are afraid to offend the minority," McEvoy said. "That's being shortsighted. They're on the wrong side of this issue and they know it. I love Las Vegas. I love gaming. I'm not anti-casino. I'm anti-smoking in the casino. This is actually going to help the industry in the long run."