| 18+ | Play Responsibly | T&C Apply
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
Expired
header-bg

Rant: Smoking and Poker is a Filthy Disaster

Revel Casino in Atlantic City cost $2 billion to build and it lost $111 million in its first year of operation.

In March the resort declared bankruptcy as Atlantic City experienced a 40% decline in revenue since it peaked back in 2006.

In a bid to breathe fresh life into AC’s great big hope, the management of Revel decided to do a complete U-turn on its decision to make the 47-stories smoke free, and once again allow people to smoke when they play.

It would be interesting to see Revel’s marketing data on this one because I for one cannot see how the introduction of smoking is going to attract more customers.

It’s nothing more than a disgusting habit that even most smokers were glad to see the back of when casinos started to create smokeless playing areas several years ago.

A Filthy Environment to Play Poker In

Jim Meehan
Even smokers can't believe it.

Just a few weeks ago the World Poker Tour (WPT) kicked off its twelfth season with the Merit Cyprus Classic. An event that was held at the Merit Crystal Cove, which is a casino that allows players to smoke.

To create a smoke-free area for players involved in the Main Event, anybody who wanted to smoke had to move away from the table and light up by the rail.

Smoking isn’t the same as drinking a pint. When you smoke you blow poisonous fumes into the air and it drifts anywhere the air will take it.

Allowing players to smoke on the rail but not at the table is an absolute joke. It creates a filthy environment to play poker in, not to mention the health hazards of secondary smoke inhalation.

To make the rules even more bizarre, you can smoke at a cash-game table but not a tournament table. I mean this just gets more absurd by the minute.

What happened to the rights of the employees? Why should a dealer shave god knows how much time off his life because he has to breathe in someone else’s secondary smoke?

What about the massage girls who are forced to inhale it whilst working on their clients, or the waitresses asking for drinks orders?

Revel Have Got This One Very Wrong

The number of smokers has been declining for over 50 years. In the UK, back in the 1950s 80% of men were smokers. This was down to 39% by 1980 and 21% and falling by 2010.

negreanubarca3
Wait till Negreanu hears about this one.

If the number of smokers is declining, then surely the optimum decision for the likes of Revel is to have a non-smoking environment. I can’t fathom how they can think otherwise.

Surely, there are more people who would refuse to play poker in a smoke-filled environment than those who stay away because they cannot smoke?

Are Revel trying to tell me that gamblers are staying away from their property because they can’t have a cigarette at the table? Nonsense.

It’s not just the dealers, floor staff, waitresses, masseuses and non-smoking players whose lives are going to benefit from a non-smoking environment; smokers would benefit as well.

During the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic, players were more concerned with smoking than playing. Daniel Negreanu worries about the first card off the deck rule, but I can tell you that nobody in Cyprus gave a monkeys because they were never at the tables anyway.

They were all too busy standing at the rail having a quick drag while the dealer dealt a hand to an empty seat.

Revel, you have got this one very wrong. But then again, when have you ever gotten anything right?

Related Articles

Unibet Poker Open 2023
Unibet Open Bukarest 2023 – Here we go!

Unibet Open Bukarest alkoi pari tuntia sitten, pahoittelut että blogi pääsee vauhtiin myöhässä. Syytetään Lufthansaa, joka onnistui eilen jättämään matkalaukkuni Frankfurtin kentälle. Nyt on laukku saatu tänne Bukarestin Marriottiin ja…

November 30, 2023 | Juhani Tyriseva
Unibet Poker Open 2023
Suomalaisten chip count, Event 1

Ville Mustonen 65K Aleksi Naski 265K Samuli Hietala 330K Jarno Jokiniemi 85K Max Avela 260K Kai Lehto 105K Feras Abid 130K Topi Palenius 95K Atte Franssila 85K Markku Vihavainen 50K…

September 16, 2023 | Juhani Tyriseva
Unibet Poker Open 2023
Voitonjako on selvillä

Ensimmäisen sormuskisan WSOPC Event 1, voitonjako on nyt selvillä. Turnauksen palkintopotti on 183.360€, ja 47 parasta pääsee rahoille. Turnauksen voittaja kuittaa mukavat 38.510€, ja min cash on 1.100€. Tällä hetkellä…

September 16, 2023 | Juhani Tyriseva
WSOP banner
WSOP Schedule 2020

The 2020 World Series of Poker kicks of in Las Vegas on May 27th. With a time frame of more than 7 weeks and 100 tournaments this will be the…

August 21, 2023 | Arved Klöhn
WSOP banner
Pikku tauon jälkeen jatketaan

Pidettiin pieni tauko, nyt peli jatkuu tasolla bb ante 4K, blindit 2K/4K. 111/573 pelaajaa.

July 25, 2023 | Juhani Tyriseva
melvin shroen live reports from The Festival in Nottingham 2023
PokerListings set to do Live Reporting from The Festival Series in Nottingham (13-19 February 2023) 

Melvin Schroen - Live Reporter For the first time in the history of The Festival Series, an event series is being held at the Dusk Till Dawn Pokerclub in Nottingham.…

March 22, 2023 | Melvin Schroen
PokerListings Awards 2022
PokerListings Operator Awards – Winners 2022

Since 2020, we have been awarding the best poker operators and innovators in the poker business with our PokerListings Operator Awards. Every year the operators are nominated and awarded in…

January 11, 2023 | Bjorne Lindberg
Oliver Hutchins Wins the Trophy in the €500K GTD PPC Malta Main Event (€71,000)

Oliver Hutchins Wins 2022 PPC Malta Main Event United Kingdom's Oliver Hutchins won the trophy in the €500,000 guaranteed PPC Malta €550 Main Event for €71,000 after a back and…

April 7, 2022 | Jason Glatzer
All Poker News
kamaleaj
2013-09-13 22:08:16

I needd chipzzzzz

justinsane
2013-09-10 04:00:18

smoking isn’t just a bad habit, it’s a addiction. my grandparents died when the where 60-ish, my mom died of lung cancer in her mid-50s and my father will probably die too … it’s such a big joke, that smokers still are allowed to poison themselves and others in public

hughh
2013-09-09 15:40:16

couldn’t agree more pure idiocy but what can you expect from atlantic city

Abba
2013-09-09 11:16:27

Profound moral obscenity.

Comment on that

Your message is awaiting approval