What a surprise. The dude's attorney is attempting to shift the blame from this moron to online poker. This kid sounds like on of the many people, oftentimes in college, who are capable of functioning well in a structured environment, but cannot handle the freedom that "real life" brings. I'm a college grad, so pllease don't think I am slamming students or college in general. I'm just saying that I have met numerous people that had super gpa's, but possessed the common sense of a kleenex. I'm guessing that this guy's ego was so fragile that he couldn't admit that he had a problem and had incurred this debt. Rather than just bite the bullet and ask for help, he chose to rob a bank (for less than he owed!). He deserves to sit in prison for a bit to reflect on his idiotic decision. One more thing, regulating online poker won't decrease this type of incident in the least. Examples of regulated items, through which people are still ruining their lives through addition include credit card debt, alcoholism and porn.