by Renee Israel
Platinum selling British musician Robbie Williams has launched his own online
poker site called Robbie Williams Poker which will offer free
online poker games.
The launch of the Robbie Williams free online poker room may seem somewhat
unusual considering that 37-year-old Williams is no poker professional.
He is, however, a highly successful UK singer and song writer and ex-member of
90s pop group 'Take That', whose worth is estimated at over £100 million. But
Williams says he occasionally plays cards with his wife and friends and
therefore starting his own online poker room is a logical progression.
Robbie Williams Poker claims to be essentially a play for free site and
describes itself as the "new home for free fun poker".
In this online poker room poker players and Robbie Williams fans play each
other to win great prizes and create the craziest avatars. The range of prizes
includes Robbie Williams-related merchandise, concert tickets and a meeting with
the muso himself.
The invitation says, "So get your poker face on for free online poker
tournaments and perfect your Hold'em Poker skills." Robbie Williams Poker
clarifies that this is not an offer to gamble. All games are played with virtual
game money with no cashable value.
Players, however, will have to pay for certain tournaments. The online poker
site states: "Many tournaments require a buy-in to participate…because if you
aren't risking anything then why are you playing!?" The player's loss in this
case is restricted to the buy in. The money used in the tournament is play
money.
Robbie Williams Poker Comes Under Fire
Though online poker sites are commonplace, Robbie Williams Poker has come
under fire, mainly because of the fact that online gambling addiction is
reportedly on the rise and that Robbie Williams himself is no stranger to
addiction.
Although he is now reportedly clean and sober, Williams' has admitted that he
has a "self-destructive" personality and has battled substance abuse, alcoholism
and depression his whole life. As such, critics are lambasting Williams for
promoting an online activity that if unchecked can potentially lead to
addiction.
Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt said, "Robbie Williams of all people should be
sensitive to the problem of addiction. I don't believe there is anything
harmless about gambling in this way. The problem is escalation, and he must know
what this is like." Even Robbie Williams fan forums have expressed similar
sentiments.
Another criticism has been that Williams has thousands of fans who are in
their teens. Without the maturity of adulthood to guide them, they can in the
emulation of their idol form wrong notions of when, where and how much to
gamble.
