Rob Mercer took cash for a WSOP buy-in after telling people he needed money for cancer treatment
Amateur poker player Rob Mercer received thousands of dollars from donors after falsely claiming he had terminal cancer in hopes of getting enough money to pay entry fees to play in this summer’s World Series of Poker.
The California resident admitted on Tuesday that he invented the story while being interviewed by the Las Vegas Journal and also made it clear that he didn’t have plans to return any of the donations he received, which is believed to be approximately $30,000.
In June, the 37-year-old Mercer opened a GoFundMe account to fulfill his dream of competing in the World Series of Poker Main Event, a no-limit hold ’em tournament with a $10,000 buy-in held in July.
“I did lie about having colon cancer. I don’t have colon cancer. I used that to cover my situation,” Mercer told the newspaper in his surprising confession. “What I did was wrong. I shouldn’t have told people I have colon cancer. I did that just as a spur-of-the-moment thing when someone asked me what kind of cancer I had.”
Mercer raised about $12,500 through the GoFundMe account page and received other private donations, such as a free suite at the Bellagio Hotel.
One of the donors was Cody Daniels, who is currently dealing with chronic illness and tweeted on Wednesday, “Well I learned a $2,500 lesson. Sadly, my kindness was taken for weakness once again. Just a shame. That’s all I can say. Hopefully gofundme peeps get their money back. Just sad, sad, sad.”
When speaking with the Review-Journal, Mercer said he has no plans to return any of the money received in donations because he believes he has undiagnosed breast cancer and that the donations were initially made because he claimed he was ill.
Emma Rodriguez is the Proofreader at the Big Blind, with seven years of experience and five years in online gambling. She plays a crucial role in maintaining content quality by ensuring error-free, reader-friendly information about the gambling industry.
