Station Casinos has barred players from keeping phones on the table in its Las Vegas poker rooms, while still allowing phone use away from the felt. At Boulder Station, management posted a rule saying, “Cellphones & other electronics are not allowed to be on the table,” and that “Card protectors are also not allowed.” The policy applies across Red Rock Resort, Boulder Station, Santa Fe Station and Green Valley Ranch, according to Card Player.
As reported by PokerNews in August, Red Rock had already adopted a narrower phone restriction, banning calls while players were seated and stopping phone use during a hand. F5 Poker noted that Station Casinos has 17 properties in Southern Nevada, and that Green Valley Ranch reopened its poker room at the end of last year.
The tightening comes amid broader concern about hidden-camera cheating in live poker. Card Player pointed to a 2024 European case in which authorities arrested two people after a player used a microscopic camera on the side of his phone to see under the dealer’s pitch, while an accomplice watched the feed and relayed card information through an earpiece. The article said the method crossed the Atlantic and became a threat in the United States.
Bart Hanson, on a Crush Live Poker podcast, had described reports and rumors of similar scams in Southern California games. Removing electronic devices from the rail or the felt could protect players from a similar ring, and Card Player added that there have been no confirmed reports of recent cheating in Las Vegas.
