Online poker tournament targets Canadian college kids

There’s quite the uproar among Canadian college officials over the recent endorsement of an online poker tournament that promises to pay the winners college tuition. At the Cape Breton University in the Nova Scotia province of Canada the Student Union President Matt Stewart has given permission to an online poker site to post advertisement on campus promoting the tournament. He has even taken the step of sending out an announcement for the event via the Student Union’s Facebook account.

While the concept of free tuition is not new to online poker, the open advertising on campus is. This isn’t sitting well with education officials as seeral other Halifax University officials have stated that they will not support advertising or the promotion of this event at their schools.

In his defense, Matt Stewart had this to say to his detractors: “There are so many other resources out there to get people gambling, I don’t think a free tournament is going to do it,” he said, pointing out that every time students walk into a store, they see lottery tickets for sale. Indeed, it’s rare these days to find any college aged person who hasn’t at least tried to play for free on an online poker site.

As of this report there’s been no response from the Breton University officials on any effort to block the advertising campaign. We will follow this story and report on any updates as they become available.