Poker Player Admits to Lying About Cancer to Raise Money for World Series of Poker Tournament Buy-in

The poker community was left stunned after an amateur player lied about his cancer diagnosis to raise an estimated $30,000–$50,000 to gain entry into the World Series of Poker Main Event that took place in Las Vegas in July. And now he's come clean about the ruse and admitting what he did was wrong—sort of.

Rob Mercer, 37, of Vallejo, California started a GoFundMe campaign back in June, with a goal of $12,000 to play in the annual tournament's $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship. Mercer claimed to have been diagnosed with terminal stage 4 colon cancer, and with the help of several prominent players who rallied around him and shared his story, it did not take long for him to fulfill his goal and then some.

In addition to the money he raised privately and through GoFundMe, Mercer and his father were even gifted a suite at the Bellagio for several days during the tournament.

However, those same players who helped him raise the funds started to become suspicious when Mercer was elusive about details about his illness, and was unable to provide any documentation from his doctor pertaining to his diagnosis. Then, during the actual tournament itself, Mercer was said to have acted "ungrateful" for the suite, and became defensive when he was spotted gambling on the casino floor with the funds he had ostensibly raised for the tournament.

After a public falling out with one of his biggest supporters and other members of the community began doing some digging online, Mercer finally admitted this week that he had lied in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"I did lie about having colon cancer. I don’t have colon cancer. I used that to cover my situation," Mercer told the publication. "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."

"I’m sorry for not being honest about what my situation was," he admitted. "If I would have done that from Day 1, who knows what would have happened.”

But while Mercer does admit that he lied about colon cancer, in another twist in the already bizarre story, he says that he lied to cover up that fact that he believes he has undiagnosed breast cancer. He says he has since stopped playing poker due to his deteriorating health, and now spends most of his days in bed. His alleged diagnosis, however, remains unconfirmed.

A representative from GoFundMe contacted Mercer for violating its terms of service, but he is refusing to pay back the money since he claims he was sick when the donations were made—just not with terminal colon cancer. As of late Wednesday, the company had reached out to individuals who donated to his campaign that they would be receiving refunds.

"They’re making me out to be some kind of monster, like this vindictive villain who planned this months in advance," he added. "It’s just crazy. But I understand. I get it."