David Lappin Robbery Attempt Reopens Security Concerns at Casino Barcelona

PokerStars Team Pro David Lappin has reportedly become the latest poker player to be the subject of an attempted robbery after leaving Casino Barcelona, bringing a subject that has circulated around the European poker community for years firmly back into focus.

Details of the incident are still emerging through social media, and PokerWired has not independently confirmed the full sequence of events but Lappin's long-time partner in crime Dara O'Kearney, confirms an attempted robbery on his social media.

Speak to players who have regularly travelled to EPT Barcelona and the conversation about personal security will be familiar.

For years, players have warned each other about leaving the casino alone late at night, carrying significant amounts of cash, wearing expensive watches or making it obvious that they have just finished a profitable session.

Some accounts shared within the poker community over the years have alleged organised groups watching casino customers and identifying potential targets for accomplices outside.

There are also player stories involving people being followed towards hotels or apartments. Those specific methods are difficult to independently establish and should be treated as player accounts rather than proven descriptions of how criminal groups currently operate. Obviously, we believe these stories to be true. 

The wider problem, however, is not imaginary.

Back in 2010, poker professionals Carter Phillips and William Reynolds were involved in a widely reported robbery incident while in Barcelona for the EPT. Reynolds described being confronted with a large machete and said people had been robbed during the encounter.

Three years later, Barcelona was again at the centre of one of poker's strangest security stories. High stakes player Jens Kyllönen reported that somebody had accessed his room at Hotel Arts during EPT Barcelona, removed his laptop and later returned it after apparently tampering with the machine. Another player reported a remarkably similar experience.

PokerStars security became involved and subsequently warned players to take precautions with their computers.

These incidents are different from a street robbery, but together they explain why security in Barcelona has remained part of the conversation whenever thousands of poker players descend on the city.

There is an obvious problem with a major poker festival that ordinary tourists do not face.

Players may leave a casino in the early hours of the morning carrying cash. Some openly wear watches worth tens of thousands of euros. T

Tournament results and large scores are published online almost immediately. Players drink together after busting tournaments and often travel back to hotels or rented apartments alone.

That is an unusually attractive combination for an opportunistic thief.

Catalonia's own Mossos d'Esquadra advises visitors in tourist areas to avoid displaying money and valuable items such as jewellery and specifically warns people to be suspicious of strangers approaching them with questions about their watch.

That warning is worth taking literally if you are travelling to Barcelona to play poker.

Got an expensive watch? Leave it at home.

Had a big cash game win? Do not advertise it.

Leaving the casino at 3am? A taxi directly from the entrance is a much better option than walking back alone.

None of this should be necessary, but pretending the risk does not exist is worse.

There is an important distinction here.
Casino Barcelona cannot police the streets of Barcelona, and a crime committed on public property is ultimately a matter for the police and city authorities.

It would therefore be unfair to simply attribute every robbery in Port Olímpic to the casino.

At the same time, Casino Barcelona and tournament operators know exactly what type of customer is leaving the venue late at night. The poker community has been discussing these risks for more than a decade.

That makes reasonable questions about visible security around exits, safe taxi collection, security escorts where appropriate and clear warnings to visiting players entirely legitimate.

The casino is certainly not disappearing from the international poker map.
Quite the opposite. Casino Barcelona's 2026 calendar includes the EPT, Campeonato de España de Poker, 888poker LIVE, Circuito Nacional de Poker and several other major festivals.

Question is - why isn't the casino doing more to protect their players and why are poker tour organisers not demanding more from the casino when plans to host festivals are being discussed?

Barcelona also remains the most established stop in EPT history. PokerStars says the city has hosted every season of the tour, with more than 25,000 Main Event entries accumulated across its first 20 editions.

That popularity makes the security conversation more important, not less.

Official figures also deserve some context. Crime across Barcelona actually fell 11.2 percent during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, while reported thefts fell by more than 20 percent. So this should not become another simplistic story claiming that Barcelona is suddenly lawless.

Poker players simply occupy a particularly vulnerable niche within the city's enormous tourist population.

The attempted robbery of David Lappin is therefore not a reason to stop travelling to EPT Barcelona.
It is another reminder that once you leave the tournament room, you should stop thinking like someone attending a poker festival and start thinking like someone carrying valuables through one of Europe's busiest tourist cities late at night.

And seriously, leave the Rolex at home. 
Casino Barcelona, clean up your neighbourhood.