Robert Mercer, a poker player, lied about having terminal cancer to raise money to enter the main event of the World Series of Poker.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has learned that the 37-year-old made up a story to get the $10,000 needed to enter the prestigious competition last July.
“What I did was wrong,” Mercer told the newspaper.
“I shouldn’t have told people I had bowel cancer. I did this spontaneously when someone asked me what type of cancer I had.”
Mercer created a page on the crowdfunding platform Go Fund Me and reportedly raised between $30,000 and $50,000.
However, the man claimed he believed he had undiagnosed breast cancer and made up the colon cancer story because he was embarrassed to say he had a rarer disease. among the gentlemen.
Mercer also said he has no plans to pay back the money received through crowdfunding.
He also reportedly stopped playing poker because his health “deteriorated.”
“I lied to a lot of people because I was afraid to tell the truth,” Mercer said. I guess I have to pay for that.”
For the record, the Liar was eliminated from the World Series of Poker Main Event pretty quickly.