After getting into trouble by accumulating massive gambling debts which he delayed paying back, Charles Barkley is to return to Las Vegas to play in a poker tournament.
The ex-basketball star pledged he would stop gambling about a month ago after being sued by a Las Vegas Strip Casino for failing to repay his gambling debts. Barkley subsequently repaid his $400,000 debt together with a $40,000 legal fee to the Wynn Las Vegas Casino.
Now he has announced he will participate in a celebrity poker event at the World Series of Poker on 2nd July.
Barkley won’t be doing this for his own gain, however, as half of the player’s winnings at the event will be donated to charity but Barkley has agreed all of his winnings will go to charity, if he is in the money.
The event is called “Ante up for Africa” and the money will go to the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. The war in Sudan has caused 300,000 people to lose their lives and as much as 2.5 million people have been displaced over the past 5 years.
The buy-in for the event is $5,000 and the 2007 event raised $500,000 for Sudan. The top two players agreed to donate their entire winnings to the troubled warzone which significantly boosted the total raised. 167 players entered with the top 18 players winning money.
Barkley is breaking his pledge to refrain from gambling but at least he’s doing it for a noble cause.
His friend basketball player Jason Kidd said Barkley was keeping his word not to gamble when he met him at a golf tournament in Palm Springs at the end of May.
He said, “We were at a casino and he said he was on the wagon. He’s strong. He didn’t gamble. I think Charles, once he decides not to do something, I think he’s pretty good at keeping his word.”
Barkley has been frank about his gambling habits and revealed in an interview with US sports network ESPN that he had gambled around £10 million over the years.
Meanwhile the World Series of Poker is hotting up in Las Vegas. Layne Flack has taken his sixth WSOP bracelet by winning Event 34, the Pot-Limit Omaha w/ReBuys.
The winners of 37 events have so far been decided with many players winning their first WSOP bracelet.
The Ante up for Africa event is a single day event on 2nd July. It takes place just before the final 2 events of the series – the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em and the blue ribbon event, the World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold’em.
