A California poker
player has admitted to faking a terminal cancer diagnosis to raise money and
enter the World Series of Poker tournament.
Rob Mercer raised more
than $30K from donations, he disgracefully told the Las Vegas Review-Journal
adding that he has no intentions to return the money.
In June, the
37-year-old launched A GoFundMe page telling donors that he was diagnosed with
a terminal illness.
“I did lie about having
colon cancer. I don’t have colon cancer. I used that to cover my situation,”
the poker player said in a shocking declaration.
“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.”
The shameless man revealed
that he received about $12,500 from the fundraiser and got other private
donations including a free Bellagio suite.
Mercer was quickly
eliminated from the tournament and banished from the community of pokers since
the bombshell revelation.
“They’re making me out
t be some kind of monster, like this vindictive villain who planned this months
in advance. It’s just crazy. But I understand. I get it,” he commented.