WSOP Fears After E-sports Massacre

Yesterday’s mass shooting in the USA, which left two people dead and many more injured at an e-sports competition in Florida, has re-ignited fears of something similar happening at a poker tournament, the World Series of Poker highlighted as a worst case scenario…

24-year old Baltimore man David Katz has been named as the killer who opened fire at a Madden 19 NFL tournament in Jacksonville, killing two and injuring eleven before taking his own life, Katz having earlier been knocked out of the event, witnesses describing his actions before and during his shooting spree…

With last year’s mass shooting at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino - which saw Stephen Paddock murder 58 concertgoers and injure hundreds more at the Route 91 Harvest Festival – poker players have become increasingly worried about security at their own events…

… partypoker Chairman Mike Sexton joining in the calls for more to be done to safeguard poker players and others…

...and telling CardPlayer magazine:

“Sadly, I’ve always worried about some poker player who went broke or felt he got a bad ruling to come back and start blasting. It’s a concern. I predict casinos will all go to metal detectors in the not too distant future.”

E-gamers, in mourning for their fellow players, were quick to point out that nobody, including poker players, is safe from such horrors…

On the 2+2 forum, posters were quickly discussing the horrendous events of Florida – the 234th ‘mass shooting’ of 2018 – BDHarrison writing:

"I feel that it's only a matter of time before someone targets a poker event" while Dr.Meh stated: “I’ve been saying this for years. Posted about it here a bunch only to be generally mocked as being paranoid. Or a typical naive response of “why would anyone target poker players?”

The same poster claimed to have ‘contacted the WSOP 2-3 times per year via email and Twitter for the last 5 years or so voicing my concerns. I make it clear that I don’t expect details of their security measures but a response saying precautions have been taken would suffice. No responses ever’.

He pointed out what others have also been calling for, explaining:

"I know it’s unpopular but we really need metal detectors at the doors, increased security, and increased use of dogs. You have a lot of money on the line, emotions running high, out of control egos, and guys being free to wear large backpacks all over the place. Recipe for disaster".