Caesars Entertainment Has Dumped An Upcoming QAnon Conference From Its Las Vegas Venues

Caesars Entertainment, one of Nevada’s largest and most iconic hotel-casino companies, is backing away from hosting a controversial conference promoting QAnon, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The far-right conspiracy movement is associated with the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The FBI has for years classified QAnon as a domestic terrorism threat, but the group has a sizeable following in the United States. A Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) study published in May found that 23% of Republicans, and 15% of all Americans, agree with the baseless QAnon allegation that “the government, media and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex-trafficking operation.”

Organized by Patriot Voice, a QAnon conference organizer, the “Patriot Double Down” had been slated to take over the Caesars Forum convention space near the Las Vegas Strip for three days in late October. In addition, Caesars had previously agreed to provide special package rates for attendees at three of its hotels —Harrah’s Las Vegas, the Flamingo and the LINQ.

Now all of that has been scuppered. “We can confirm that the Patriot Double Down will no longer be held at Caesars Entertainment properties,” confirmed Kate Whiteley, a company spokesperson, in an email. Whiteley declined to offer a reason for the reversal. Less than two weeks ago, the company defended hosting the event, saying its venues host a wide range of organizations and that is “not indicative of the company’s views, nor are they an endorsement of any group or organization.”

In recent days, Patriot Voice has scrubbed all references to Caesars properties from the event website. That includes a slick promotional video that had been playing on loop on the site’s home page, which cleverly combined WWE-style power music with unsubtle pairings of Las Vegas and QAnon symbols: a pair of dice emblazoned with the words “God wins;” a playing card featuring the QAnon rallying cry, “Where we go one, we go all;” and a brief shot of Caesars Palace hotel with the brand’s iconic logo — a profile of the Roman general framed by palm fronds — replaced with a golden “Q.”

The event website’s itinerary now refers to “a location to be announced,” while its registration page, which had once touted the hotel packages at Caesars hotels, currently directs would-be attendees to fill out an online contact form and states, “Our online ticketing system is temporarily offline.”

Despite the setback, the event organizer remains defiant. “They tried to shut us down but we have no plans to back down or shy away from this movement,” reads the website’s home page. “We promise to DOUBLE DOWN on our dedication to God & Country, and patriotism!”

Assuming that Patriot Voice can find a replacement venue, the “Patriot Double Down” will make for a pricey getaway. The general admission all-weekend pass costs $650 per person, while the VIP weekend pass — which includes a “VIP swag bag with great surprises!” as well as entry to a meet-and-greet party with the speakers — runs a cool $1,300. And that’s all before shelling out for a hotel. 

The event’s keynote speaker is QAnon celebrity Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s disgraced national security advisor, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with the Russian ambassador but was subsequently pardoned by the former president. 

Another keynote speaker is a mystery guest denoted on the website by a dark silhouette placeholder and big question mark. If the Las Vegas event follows in the footsteps of a previous Patriot Voice-organized QAnon conference held over Memorial Day Weekend in Dallas, attendees could see Sidney Powell, the former president’s attorney, who is currently fighting a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit for spreading “the Big Lie” there was widespread election fraud in the November 2020 election.

The list of other guest speakers includes Jim Watkins, who owns the QAnon conspiracy forum 8Kun; David Harris, Jr., a frequent conspiracy-touting guest on Fox and Friends, NewsMax and OAN; and Jason Sullivan, who was the social media advisor to Roger Stone, the Trump surrogate who was convicted of lying to Congress and witness tampering in the Mueller probe before the former president saved him from doing jail time.

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