The Captain's Blog ™

Oh. My. Goodness. According to Times Online Ladbrokes Poker is giving away “a series of £680 million payouts” via its online poker site. Not just one such payout, mind. “A series” of them!

I’ve seen some poker promotions in my time, but that really would take the biscuit. If only it was true.

From "Need to Know", TimesOnline 11/2/09

Thanks to a truly staggering miscalculation, The Times would apparently have us believe that $1m is the equivalent in beloved Pounds Sterling of £680m. I know that Sterling has got weaker in recent months, but that’s surely stretching things a bit too far.

Just to be on the safe side, Ladbrokes might like to check that their poker software hasn’t set the £ prizes based on similar miscalculations.

To set the record straight, Ladbrokes Poker has recently joined the Microgaming Poker Network and “is launching a series of promotions to its poker players including a multi-million dollar promotion where $1 million is paid out every month to 3,000 leading players”.

Seriously though, doesn’t anyone in any position remotely resembling one of responsibility carry out basic sanity checks on calculations any more? Doh! Sorry, of course not – I forgot the state of our banking system for a moment there…