Only a few days after he won the World Series of Poker, Jamie Gold was sued by television executive Bruce Crispin Leyser. The executive claims that Gold promised to give him half of his winnings in exchange for publicity. To support the lawsuit, Leyser presented a voice-mail tape that contains the promise.

Gold recently said that he will not give away half of his $12 million prize and filed a court brief in which he states that the agreement was “nothing more than a promise to make a gift.” The court will now have to decide whether the verbal agreement is binding or not.

Richard Schonfeld, Leyser’s attorney, described Gold’s position as “absurd”. According to Schonfeld, the fact that Gold admitted to the deal further affirms that Leyser is entitled to the money. “We're glad they finally took a position. Even though we were extremely confident in our case, we are more confident now that we will prevail,” he said.