As the date draws closer for the proposed boycott of one of the top poker rooms on the Las Vegas Strip, there doesn’t seem to be any way it won’t go through despite the efforts of the man who called for the boycott’s overtures.
“Two days ago, I issued a simple declaration to Sands Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson,” noted poker author Nolan Dalla wrote on his blog yesterday. “(The boycott) will be called off provided that Mr. Adelson acknowledges poker as a game of skill…So far, the Adelson camp remains totally silent.”
The boycott, which Dalla has called for from July 22-26, would be for poker players to stay away from the Venetian’s posh poker room for that time period. It stems from the comments that Adelson made in an op/ed piece on Forbes.com where the Sands CEO deemed that online gaming and poker “a societal train wreck waiting to happen” and that it was “a toxin which all good people ought to resist.” Those comments, as well as Adelson’s thoughts that poker isn’t a skill game (“That (poker) is skill based is, in my opinion, just a bunch of baloney. To get a card is not skill based.”) and the creation of an anti-online gaming regulation website under the Las Vegas Sands Corporation ownership, drove Dalla to call for the boycott of the Venetian poker room.
“The latest reports I’ve received show that numbers were down significantly this past weekend from previous weeks,” Dalla states. “Poker players are catching on to this news…players at the Venetian this weekend were talking openly about the upcoming boycott and some were agreeing it was time to do something.”
“We must stand in solidarity on this one issue, if just for five days,” Dalla concluded.
While there has been discussion of a boycott of the Venetian for years now, it does seem that Dalla’s efforts are beginning to draw some traction in the poker community. On the Two Plus Two forums, poster ‘McMelchior’ writes, “Adelson’s support to federally regulated online poker could have made a difference. A notable, positive difference…Choosing instead to counter such efforts is strongly reprehensible, and I believe the poker community employing the means available to us and in no uncertain terms should make this clear to Mr. Adelson and his Sands Corporation. I strongly urge all thinking poker players to stay away from the Venetian.”
Others on the 2+2 board, however, aren’t as quick to jump on the boycott bandwagon. Citing his ability to get particular spreads at the Venetian and without a significant wait time, poster ‘Steve00007’ writes, “I don’t have a problem with avoiding the other games in the casino. I won’t play a single slot machine, for example. But I’m not going to take part in a boycott that could only hurt poker players and friendly employees in a poker room.”
Surprisingly, Dalla doesn’t have the support of another of poker’s luminaries, 2011 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Linda Johnson. On Dalla’s blog, Johnson states, “I can’t go along with your boycott Nolan. You said: “Moreover, I don’t want to see any of the employees hurt who work at The Venetian.” That’s exactly who will be hurt…the Venetian generously sponsored the TDA (Tournament Directors Association) summit recently. I hate that SA feels the way he does, but that attitude is not necessarily shared by his employees. Why punish them?”
One player who did step up to support Dalla’s efforts is former World Champion Joseph Hachem. Over his Twitter feed at the end of June, Hachem chirped, “Just for the record folks, I WILL NOT play at the Venetian this summer at all,” closing with the hash tags “#disgrace” and “#poker.” Other poker players, including Haralabos Voulgaris, Randy Dorfman and 2013 World Series of Poker bracelet winners Jared Hamby and Chad Holloway, have also stated their willingness to step up for the boycott.
With the boycott scheduled to begin on Monday, there will be some attention on the Venetian come next week. Will poker players exit en masse from the room for the time period set or will the boycott be less than successful as players look out for their own selves?