The novice poker participant, who stated he had terminal most cancers to lift cash to enter the World Sequence of Poker Essential Occasion, has now been banned.
Poker Participant Lies About Having Most cancers
In June, 37-year-old Rob Mercer from Vallejo, California said he had cancer in an effort to raise money, which he wanted to purchase into the World Sequence of Poker important occasion, which came about in Las Vegas in July.
Mercer created a GoFundMe to lift the cash. Many followers donated cash to the poker participant as they had been touched by his. story. In the long run, he reportedly earned between $30,000 and $50,000, which allowed him to enter the event.
Nevertheless, Mercer ultimately admitted to mendacity about his most cancers analysis, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “I shouldn’t have instructed individuals I’ve colon most cancers. I did that simply as a spur-of-the-moment factor when somebody requested me what sort of most cancers I had.”
Followers first started questioning the poker player’s analysis attributable to his habits within the July occasion. He reportedly supplied imprecise responses to questions on his most cancers analysis and failed to supply proof of his alleged terminal colon most cancers analysis.
The Las Vegas Overview-Journal additionally reported that a number of individuals noticed Mercer playing in a on line casino, the place many approached him about his habits, which, in flip, Mercer to turn into defensive.
“I did lie about having colon most cancers,” Mercer admitted. “I don’t have colon most cancers. I used that to cowl my state of affairs.” As a result of he believes he has breast most cancers, the poker participant says he has no intentions of returning the cash he gained by his GoFundMe.
“On the finish of the day I lied to lots of people as a result of I used to be scared to inform the reality,” Mercer stated. “And I assume I’ll should pay for that.”
Poker Participant Now Banned
Following his apology, followers took to social media to precise their disgust.
“So @WSOP or @gofundme please inform me you’re going to do one thing about this!!!! There are individuals who really need assistance. This mendacity piece of 💩 wants to grasp the influence he had in pulling this stunt. (1/?),” one fan wrote.
As one person asked, “Do you assume the actions of poker participant Rob Mercer, mendacity about having terminal most cancers to lift $30,000 for a event, deserve forgiveness or ought to they face extreme penalties for his or her deception and misuse of funds?”
And one fan known as him “disgusting”, writing, “As an precise poker participant/vendor that has survived colon most cancers this man is completely disgusting & a shame to the poker neighborhood.”
Because the information went viral, GoFundMe came upon concerning the hoax, and the poker participant has now been banned from GoFundMe. Plus, all the donations have been refunded.
A spokesperson for GoFundMe instructed TMZ those that donated to Mercer’s fundraiser have been absolutely refunded, and he has been banned from utilizing the fundraisng website sooner or later.
The corporate acknowledged they’ve zero tolerance for individuals who “exploit the generosity of our neighborhood,” including that GoFundMe typically works with legislation enforcement investigations into these “formally accused of wrongdoing.”
