Tiger Woods Turns Down $75 Million Paddy Power Poker Sponsorship

Recently, gossip site TMZ reported that embattled professional golfer Tiger Woods, fresh off a highly publicized marital tiff, turned down a $75 million sponsorship offer from the online sports book, casino, and poker site Paddy Power.

As its name implies, Paddy Power makes its bread and butter off the Irish poker market. TMZ explained that the multi-faceted online outlet approached the 14-time major champion with an offer it thought Woods couldn’t refuse. TMZ recounted, “Tiger Woods just blew off a $75 million endorsement offer from an Irish gambling company – and that is how you know you’re rich.” The offer was reportedly for five years, but Woods turned down the lucrative proposition despite its long-term potential.

The news comes one day after five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman became the official celebrity endorser of the Cake Poker Network site Only Poker. Despite being dumped on the first round of negotiations, Paddy Power will apparently return to the bargaining table with another offer, according to TMZ. Paddy Power is a member of the massive iPoker Network, which is the fourth largest worldwide according to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com. The network does not accept members from the United States.

Despite not accepting action from the populated North American nation, Paddy Power Poker could have used Woods’ recognition around the world to attract customers to its site. Woods has won tournaments across Europe, Asia, and Australia in addition to his domination on the links in North America. He’s arguably the most recognizable name in the world of golf.

In late 2009, disaster struck for Woods. A purported past of infidelity finally caught up to the golf superstar, leading to an infamous run-in featuring his wife Elin Nordegren, a Cadillac Escalade luxury SUV, a golf club, a fire hydrant, and a tree in front of his Florida home. As news of Woods’ crash spread around the internet like wildfire, major sponsors began questioning their relationship with the 34 year-old.

Among the first Fortune 500 companies to cut bait with Woods was Accenture, followed by AT&T, Gatorade, and Gillette. According to a study released by the University of California – Davis in late December, Woods’ extracurricular activities could have cost shareholders of associated companies between $5 billion and $12 billion. The study examined businesses including Accenture, AT&T, Electronic Arts, Gillette, Nike, Gatorade, TLC Laser Eye Centers, and Golf Digest. The study added that Woods raked in $100 million annually from endorsements, “more than any other athlete.”

Woods spoke to the media in mid-February about the incident and may return to golf. The Masters, which Woods has won four times, will kick off from Augusta National Golf Course outside of Atlanta on April 6th. He last took down the high-profile tournament in 2005.

Paddy Power Poker has a bevy of promotions taking place, including Cashpoint, whose format is similar to PartyPoker’s Gladiator. Paddy Power Poker players who rack up 100 Paddy Points for 10 days or more during the month of March are eligible to win cash prizes. The site will take a player’s 10 highest earning point days during the month and match $1 for every 20 points earned on the lowest day. The minimum payout is $5 and players can also qualify for a $2,000 Cashpoint freeroll.

Other sites on the massive iPoker Network include bet365, CelebPoker, Chili Poker, Mansion Poker, Noble Poker, Sun Poker, Titan Poker, and William Hill. The publicly traded company Playtech owns and operates the network. Playtech is traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “PTEC.”

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest poker gossip on Woods and other celebrities.

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Poker dictionary:

FLAT LIMIT - A variant of fixed limit where all bets are the same amount.
TO GO - The current betting level, as in "$20 to go" meaning every player must contribute $20 (total) or drop. A $10 raise would then make the pot "$30 to go".
RACE - In tournaments it is sometimes convenient to remove all lower-denomination chips from play, as the remaining players' stacks tend to grow. Small chips are converted to larger chips and any odd chips are "raced off" in the following way: each player with odd chips places them in front of his stack and is dealt one card for each chip. Highest card (rank and suit) takes all the small chips and converts them to higher-denomination chips.
CASE - The fourth card of a particular rank, as in "he folded the case 9" when describing where all the 9s were in a hand. Comes from the game of Faro where an employee of the house, called the "case keeper". kept track of the number of each rank of card remaining.
RAISE - To wager more than the minimum required to call, forcing other players to put in more money as well.
OVERPAIR - In Hold'em, a pair in the hole that is larger than any community card on the board.

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