College Students Play Poker Online to Win Scholarships

College Students at Cape Breton University play online poker for fun every week. The students play on an Internet gaming firm’s website for free and in turn the students can win prizes which include $5,660 in tuition fees.

The student union of the campus supports the online poker tournaments and the union president, Matt Stewart, gave the firm permission to post advertisements on campus for the poker tournament. The union also posted information about the tournament on their Facebook page.

Stewart said that he sees nothing wrong with the tournaments and compared them to a raffle, saying there is little risk to develop a gambling addiction because they do not pay to play. “There are so many other resources out there to get people gambling, I don’t think a free tournament is going to do it.” Stewart pointed out that any store nearby sell lottery tickets.

Other experts disagree with Stewart. Bernie Walsh, the leader of an anti-gambling group called Video Online Lottery Terminators Society stated that such tournaments could lead the students to start gambling. "I’m sure that some will go to casinos who have never gone before," said Mr. Walsh, a former gambler who went bankrupt because of his VLT addiction. "If they start getting any good at all at poker, then they’ll start risking money and get into it more deeply."

No matter what side of the fence you are on, both must agree that if players understand the problems that gambling can cause, how addictive it can become, then the player can take the proper precautions that they always play responsibly.