Gambling on shock value

Golden Palace Online Casino has done it again. Its latest stunt occurred Monday, when a man sporting a purple tutu, clown shoes and a temporary tattoo of the company's Web address, GoldenPalace.com, leapt from a springboard during an Olympic synchronized diving competition.

In the last three years, the gaming site has made a name for itself through advertisements at high-profile sporting events, though its promotions are hardly the tired old ads one sees at the back wall of a baseball park. Instead, the company pays people to act as human billboards, temporarily tattooing their bodies with the address and streaking in the middle of an athletic competition.

And the job is open to more than just opportunistic fame seekers. Since 1997, professional athletes, namely boxers, have donned the company tattoo while they compete. Although ESPN has threatened to ban any boxer who sports the ads, many see it as a way to significantly increase their income from a fight.

When Kassim Ouma wore a Golden Palace tattoo as he fought for the junior middleweight crown in 2002, he reportedly brought in $15,000 for the advertisement, the same amount he is said to have made for the fight itself.

In a break from the company's flesh-based advertising campaigns, Golden Palace recently sponsored a crew of rocket-building technophiles to put its name in orbit.

Due to compete for the $10 million prize in a contest for a privately funded space flight, a group called the da Vinci Project found itself short on cash. Golden Palace came to the rescue, donating $500,000 to the team. In turn, The da Vinci Project has covered its Web site with Golden Palace ads and is now known as The GoldenPalace.com Space Program.

Whether on a full moon or in suborbital space, the company seems set on using shock value to get the highest payouts.