could this method WORK?

[thursday]

To preface, a few months back, a local club that holds a weekly NL tourney got busted by my state's gaming commission. The game was split for a few weeks, but quickly came back with the same tournament and prize structure. I asked how this was possible, short of countless sexual favors, and those in charge of the place proclaimed that my "buy-in" was for food.

Instead of paying $60 as entry to the tournament, I instead paid $60 for a buffet of gross food, with a free bonus entry into a tournament with cash prizes. Oddly enough, this method was deemed as legal and the game has been running strong since.

Could a similar strategy be used with online poker? In order to offer their customers a method to deposit, interested sites open a Store which offers "Bonus Money" in your account with the purchase of an item. For a ridiculous example, they could offer a pack of Pokerstars cards for $104 or a Bodog Basketball for $206, with bonus offers of $100 and $200, respectively.

I'm not familiar enough with the legislation in place, but surely someone here can shoot down my idea. This seems like a reasonably sound idea, as well as a method for the major poker sites to make even more money through selling ridiculous items.

<3