Casinos.co.uk: Casino News Archive
Tuesday 13th April 2004
World Poker Tour Announce Plans for College Competition
Steve Lipscomb, CEO of the World Poker Tour, has told the Las Vegas Sun that a poker competition between colleges for scholarship money and other prizes is currently in the offing. Poker, thanks to television and the Internet, is a massive extra curricular activity on campuses throughout the U.S at the moment, with students everywhere catching the poker bug and adding a new dimension to the phrase ‘bluffing your way through college’
Already underway is the 1st Annual College Poker Tournament, an online tournament sponsored by RoyalVegasPoker.com with a first prize of $50,000. Organiser, Lou Krieger, explains the ethos behind the tournament: “It's about giving back to the community, both scholars and charitable organizations, while at the same time enjoying a game that is fast becoming the next spectator sport,' he says. 'Poker is a game of skill and not of random chance. Its value is increasingly being recognized by university professors around the world as a game that encourages strategic thinking and competitive analysis.'
However, reactions from some other quarters have been less enthusiastic: 'It's actively soliciting kids to gamble, and in some states that may be illegal,” said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. 'You wouldn't have a college drinking championship, or a college smoking championship.' – well, you might…
Lipscomb remains positive, countering: 'Of all the things you're confronted with in college, this seems to me to be just about the most benign form of entertainment you'll find,' he said. 'The reality is that if you're actually paying attention and wanting to play poker, you're less likely to drink a lot ... I can't feel guilty about that.'
Source:OnlineCasinoNews
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