From Facebook

Share share share!!!!!

Currently taking place at the Venetian hotel... I am a caregiver for a man who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. We came to vegas to play in a tournament, which he got his new player card and bought into. After playing multiple hands, The Venetian management is currently telling him he can no longer play because of his disability and not being able to hold his cards himself. This is discrimination against people with disabilities and it is illegal. They are refusing to let him play and told the dealer not to deal him in. We have been sitting here at the table for hours after they had security and managers swarming us, threatened to call police to remove us from the poker table but have not done so yet.

Share share share!!!! This is discrimination!
#justiceforcullen

***update they closed the table and took all his chips away!!!

**second update!! Still sitting here hours later being told "the legal team will be here shortly" Cullen has a catheter and I just had to empty it in a room full of players.

What kind of scumbag room would think that this is a good PR move?

great job venetian way to exude class

Lame. I hope they at least gave Cullen his buy-in back... I'm sure there are plenty of rooms around Vegas that would be happy to have his business. The Venetian handled this the worst way possible imo.

Do they claim that the plexiglass/Covid precautions have anything to do with their decision?

What are the rules?

WSOP and the Rio has long allowed and supported disabled players, even those with helpers that handle the cards and chips, as long as only the disabled player makes all the decisions.

The Venetian just opened themselves to a costly ADA lawsuit.

Hopefully to do a lot of apologizing, and then chew out the floor later.

They might be once the legal team gets there.

I remember there were a couple of blind guys who would have helpers tell them their cards and the action. I also remember the guy with no hands who would use his feet to peel his cards.

The lawsuit winnings could be much bigger than the tournament winnings.

Telling somebody they can’t play with a helper because of Covid19 protocols would be one thing. Removing a player from the tournament is something totally different and I can’t believe anyone could think that’s a good idea.

What’s wrong with people?

This is going to be a costly mistake.

How does he play though? You would hold the cards and he will give you like verbal instructions as to how to play the hand?

As a local reg I have absolutely no problem with his caregiver handling the cards

I would expect so - seems pretty simple.

Is it possible the caregiver wasn’t COVID compliant (bad or no mask, vaping, etc)? Is there a new rule of only one person allowed in each “plexiglass booth” due to COVID regulations? Perhaps the hastily prepared COVID rules, which all casinos must abide, didn’t think through ADA exceptions? Otherwise, it seems like a boneheaded move by the floor manager.

As I suspected, it was due to COVID regulations imposed by Gov't Authorities, sounds like they figured out a solution.

Could be an interesting case. ADA lawsuits centered around Covid rules would be setting a lot of precedent. It's definitely not as open and shut as people in this thread are saying.

At what point in this did the Venetian force the caregiver to change the guys catheter in front of everyone?

So what was the solution that allowed play? Thought op said they took his chips away.

I don’t think there’s a case if they tell him at the registration desk that he can’t play due to Covid19 regulations. At least not a case against the casino.

But that’s not what happened here. The guy was removed after playing multiple hands which means that the Venetian already was in violation of protocols and should be fined for that. What followed might have caused significantly more emotional distress than a lot of others suffered before reaching a decent settlement.

That said, we only know one side of the story so far. The Venetian might come out with a statement about how they handled an unfortunate situation in the best way possible. But for right now, it looks like they approached a nightly sensitive matter in a very unprofessional way.

At what point did anyone say they did?

The player and his helper remained in their spot to wait for the arrival of the legal team and to try getting the matter resolved to their satisfaction.

What's stopping them from just popping to the toilet and emptying the catheter? The caregiver is the one making the point that he had to empty his catheter in front of everyone. All I'm saying is that in this context it's a moot point, and all it will do is incite people to shout prejudice.

Only fitting this would happen at the Venetian of all properties.

Completely agree with you about this specific part of the story fwiw.