A poker player who claimed he had Stage 4 terminal colon cancer in an effort to raise money for a $10,000 buy-in to the main event of the World Series of Poker admitted Wednesday he lied about his diagnosis.
Rob Mercer, a 37-year-old amateur player from Vallejo, California, raised between $30,000 and $50,000 via a GoFundMe and private donation campaign, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, exceeding his initial goal of raising $12,000. On Wednesday, he told the Review-Journal he never had colon cancer.
“I did lie about having colon cancer," Mercer told the Review-Journal.