June 11, 2008 - For anybody who hasn't heard the
news yet, another cheating scandal has broken at a
large-scale "regulated" online poker room. Shortly following
the big scandal at Absolute Poker, a very similar cheating
scheme has been uncovered at Ultimate Bet. Not a cheating
scandal in which real players are colluding to take
advantage of other players, this scandal (as was the case at
Absolute Poker), stems from former employees getting backend
access in the software to see other player's cards while
posing as real players in real money games.
Although Ultimate Bet did not state how much money was
swindled, they said they would refund every player who lost
any money while playing hands with the six individuals
responsible for the fraud, which is estimated to be in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars - likely millions - and
which
took place for over the course of almost two years. While
all of this certainly is hard to digest, what's most
disconcerting is the fact that like Absolute Poker, Ultimate
Bet is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, and that
like Absolute Poker, is owned by Tokwiro Enterprises, which
is owned by Kahnawake's former Grand Chief.
While I don't want to give Tokwiro Enterprises any
"benefit of a doubt", they claim the employees responsible
for the fraud were all former employees, while in the
case of Ultimate Bet, were employees under prior management.
Yet the fact remains, there is clearly a security loophole
that is making this kind of fraud possible - a security
breach which the Kahnawake Gaming Commission should ensure
all licensed poker rooms have proper protocols in place to
prevent from happening.
But Kahnawake has nor is doing nothing about this
problem. This is precisely why here at Online Casino Suite,
we are warning all poker players to play at your own risk at
a Kahnawake licensed online poker room. We are not extending
this warning to Kahnawake licensed online casinos (just
yet...maybe we can pressure them to do something about
this), for the regulation protocols used to ensure security
and fraud prevention at online casino is different than that
of poker rooms. Interactions at online casinos are just
between the player and the software, which is strictly
audited to ensure payout percentages are met and hand
results are unpredictable, while at poker rooms, it's you
against other players, which we now know could be hacking
into the software to see your cards!
So, not to scare you off from playing online poker, let
me just reiterate that if you play at a Kahnawake licensed
online poker room, you are taking your chances. And such is
gambling. While not
every poker room licensed by Kahnawake is a cheating scandal
waiting to happen, in order to keep the gaming industry
moving toward the highest level of gaming responsibility,
and universal regulation at that, it's the players who need
to make a stand. Either Kahnawake should improve their regulations
or those responsible poker sites licensed by Kahnawake
should get licensed
elsewhere.
Originally published:
June,
2008 | Categories:
Online Poker
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