Buyer of Peter Eastgate WSOP Charitable Bracelet Identified as William Haughey

Until recently, the buyer of 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Peter Eastgate’s bracelet has remained anonymous.  Now he’s finally stepped forward after over a year since the purchase to explain why he made the purchase.

William Haughey told PokerNews.com: 

“I thought it was a magnificent gesture when Peter said he was going to give the money to charity. That was the only reason why I bought the bracelet. I paid $150,000 for the bracelet, but if the money wasn't going to charity I wouldn't have even paid $50,000 for it. Some of the younger players said that the integrity of the bracelet was lost, and there was no respect, but the kids in Africa will be cheering Peter Eastgate today and not worrying about what the poker blogs are saying.”

The bracelet fetched $147,500 after an initial bid on eBay of $16,000.

Haughey says he now plans on giving the bracelet back to the poker community. 

“Since I purchased the bracelet, I've never had it on and I never have my picture taken with it. It has been in a safe, and what I would like to do is maybe protect the integrity and the worthiness of the bracelet. I would like to discuss with the World Series of Poker if they would take the bracelet as a gift from me and keep it in the Hall of Fame. Maybe they could strike a one-off bracelet in Europe next year for charity. I could pick a charity of my choosing and they could pick one of their choosing. I think it’d be great for the poker community. Not everyone gets a chance to win a bracelet, so maybe we could do something online for a couple of hundred bucks and raise like $400,000 or $500,000.”

- Patrick Flanagan, Gambling911.com