What happened
The Japan Open Poker Tour's Ladies Championship listed, as first prize, 150 condoms and three bottles of lubricating gel. The condoms came as 120 standard and 30 large, because the tour wanted that on the record. Second and third place also got condoms and lube, plus jewelry and merchandise such as hoodies, t-shirts and socks. The sponsor is Sagami, a Japanese condom manufacturer. The buy-in is 30,000 yen, about $190, and the event is in Tokyo.
Social media users objected. One wrote that a tournament meant to broaden the base of female players was handing large quantities of sex products to its top three women. Another granted that sexual health awareness is a fine goal, then asked why a women-only event got these prizes in particular.
The tour then removed the prize details from its website. Its press releases now describe the prizes as 'Sagami Product Gift Sets.'
Why it matters
Poker has spent years asking how to get more women to the table. For one tour, the answer printed in public was a sponsor's inventory.
The winner of a ladies tournament is now promised a gift set with no listed contents. That makes first place a mystery prize, and poker already has a format for those.
