Poker Superstars
Phil Hellmuth
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Absolute Poker Fined $500,000 |
Online casino Absolute Poker was fined $500,000 earlier this week by Kahnawake Gaming Commission of Canada for a recent discovery of their cover up of an online cheating scandal and security breach which occurred at their site over a period of six weeks beginning in August 2007.
According the report, Absolute Poker had a security breach in their software that had allowed a ring of seven players access to other players' hole cards while playing online. The players developed a "super" account that could see all table hole cards and would then funnel the information to the pawn of the super user.
The cheating was discovered when tournament players competing against the "informed" accounts noticed the player continued to make insanely ridiculous calls that seemingly no other player would make. It became clear that the player could see the other cards, or that some other form of internet gambling collusion was going on. Of course, complaints and further investigation found this to be true.
Instead of bringing this evidence into the open, Absolute Poker was found to have hidden the occurence, going so far as to delete past hand histories and other database information containing data on the event. So far no link has been discovered between the cheating players and the company itself: it does not seem to be an inside job, but more one that was not handled responsibly by the hosts.
Now, in addition to their $500,000 fine, Absolute Poker will be subject to surveillance and audits of their accounts to ensure that no foul play among the company is going on. They will have to pay in advance for the costs of the audits in order to keep their tables running.
So what does this mean for online poker? Are we unsafe? Actually, I see this development as a positive sign for the state of affairs. It's good to know that cheating is being uncovered and the gambling sites are being held to their responsibilities of protecting those who choose to use their services. The result is a safer community, not a more dangerous one. Hopefully awareness of this kind of wrongdoing will clue both cheaters and would-be accomplices in that they won't have a cake ride into our pockets. Online poker cheating will be dealt with by a stiff hand.
January 16, 2008 |
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