Despite still owing players $55,600 from his last event, Dan Bekavac, the founder of the Midway Poker Tour, competed in the main event this past weekend.
In October, the Midway Poker Tour occurred, and 12 out of the 27 individuals who believed they had earned money while playing poker in Illinois have yet to receive their full payment.
However, Bekavac made an appearance at the Grand Falls Casino event near Sioux Falls over the weekend. PokerNews reported that he participated in the event by buying in with at least two $1,100 Day 1 bullets.
Despite his previous success and the opportunity to win prizes, Bekavac did not attend Sunday’s Day 2 event at the Mid-States Poker Tour where players could win prizes, even though he had won over $200,000 in the past from the same competitions.
After the Midway Poker Tour failed, Bekavac promised to set things right.
To say the least, his presence at this latest event is not impressive.
What took place during the Midway Poker Tour?
The details of the unsuccessful Midway Poker Tour can be found in full here, but we’ll provide a brief summary below.
The Sheraton Suites Chicago Elk Grove hosted a tournament with a $1,100 entry fee and a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000.
The Charitable Gaming Act in Illinois prohibits payouts exceeding $500 beyond the entry fee. Consequently, the tournament organizers decided to offer payments in gold and other precious metals instead.
Terence Shiel from the state attorney general’s office arrived and announced to the attendees that they could not exchange precious metals for dollars at the event.
In another effort to find a solution, event organizers promised to link players with potential buyers outside of the venue. However, disappointingly, no interested buyers were found, or at least none willing to pay the asking price, for the metal.
Appraisers valued the metals at 60% to 70% of their full price. Bekavac committed to covering the remaining amount and has done so for several smaller sums.
However, he has not kept his promise to the top winners. Renato Spahiu, the competition champion, still owes $16,038, and Satoshi Tanaka, who finished second, has a debt of $10,974.
According to Spahiu, it is highly unlikely that a payment will ever be made.
Bekavac allegedly disregarded individuals who have not been paid, yet still managed to attend the main event of the Mid-States Poker Tour.
Bekavac absolved himself of responsibility at the time.
Bekavac stated that the plan involving precious metals was not his own idea.
I worked tirelessly to bring people back to live poker and, with the assistance of the nonprofit 4 KIDS Sake, I invested over $55,000 of my own funds to make it happen.
After discovering that we were unable to secure a buyer for our gold medals on Saturday, I proposed offering a cash payout of $1,600, along with a gold-pick-up certificate for the following day, to a reputable coin dealer. This way, we could have the medals securely shipped to buyers outside of the city by the next morning.
The chosen solution was not to purchase the magic at $35 per ounce from a supplier, which was $11 more than its actual value. I was not the one who made this decision. As a result of overpaying for the metal, payments are still being received, but not as much as expected.
