Adding to a long list of unusual eBay listings, actor William Shatner (best known as Captain James T. Kirk on television’s Star Trek) sold the kidney stone he passed back in August 2005 to Golden Palace Casino Online Casino. Golden Palace Casino paid $25,000 for the iconic former Captain of the Starship Enterprise’s organ, the funds promptly rerouted to the charity Habitat For Humanity, which helps build houses for low income families.
Golden Palace Casino has, in the internet gambling world at least, become synonymous with the publicity stunt. This is the same online casino that, in August 2005, paid $1,775 for a pierogi (a polish dumpling) bearing the image of Jesus Christ. Upon winning the item, they proudly added it to their growing (and increasingly notorious) collection of modern oddities.
Other cherished artifacts include:
— A Grilled Cheese Sandwich bearing the image of the Virgin Mary ($28,000)
— A 1999 Volkswagen Golf that formerly belonged to Pope Benedict XVI
— Britney Spears’ pregnancy test (yes, used — yuck)
— A metal walking cane that an elderly woman sold in the hopes of convincing her young grandson that his grandfather’s ghost would once and for all leave their house along with it ($65,000).
In early December 2005, the online casino purchased Babe Ruth’s allegedly corked baseball bat from Lelands.com for $103,631. Now, according to Golden Palace Casino CEO Richard Rowe, they intend to saw the bat in half and resolve the long batted-around controversy once and for all.
Golden Palace Casino is even proud holder of the only known property deed to the White House — yes, the actual home of the President of the United States. Won in an auction on eBid.tv in September 2005, this Quitclaim deed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C was also one of the least expensive items the Golden Palace Casino “museum” managed to get its hands on, costing only $43.45.
Golden Palace Casino has even paid to have its name appear in upcoming releases by famous novelists such as Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction writer David Brin (The Postman, the River of Time Anthology) to whom they paid $2,250 for the honor. Dave Eggers, bestselling author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, got $5,471.78 from them for a cameo appearance in his forthcoming novel, The Journey of the Fishes Overland. As with most all of Golden Palace Casino Online Casino’s unique advertising expenditures, all proceeds from this exchange will be donated to charity; in these two cases, it’s the First Amendment Project, a free speech charity.
Amassing an increasingly bizarre collection of modern oddities isn’t the only publicity stunt this online casino is engaged in. Golden Palace Casino:
— Continues to pay out thousands of dollars to individuals to tattoo the Golden Palace Casino logo on various parts of their subjects’ bodies.
— Employs a growing pool of brave and shameless souls to interrupt public sporting events by running naked across the arena with the online casino’s logo and URL emblazoned on their flesh. Folks like Mark Roberts (whose rear end is now more famous than his face could ever have been) have streaked the French and British and US Opens, the World Swimming Championships, the UEFA Cup finals, Ladies’ Day at the Royal Ascot, the World Figure Skating Championship, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece, Super Bowl XXXVIII, and run with the Bulls in Spain — all in the name of good, wholesome, online casino gambling.
— Sponsored Dennis Rodman’s car in the Bullrun USA 2005, a race that matches the exact route of the Cannonball Run in the 1981 Burt Reynolds movie of the same name.
— Sponsored a rowboat team that attempted a 3,000-mile crossing of the Atlantic.
The crew at Golden Palace Casino certainly knows how to draw attention to themselves. And there’s no argument, they know how to raise money for charity!
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