"Back Door" Cheating Scandal Rocks Online Poker

AcidAUS sends us the story of an online poker cheating ring that netted an estimated $10M for its perpetrators over almost 4 years. The article spotlights the role of an Australian player who first performed the statistical analyses that demonstrated that cheating had to be going on. "In two separate cases, Michael Josem, from Chatswood, analyzed detailed hand history data from Absolute Poker and UltimateBet and uncovered that certain player accounts won money at a rate too fast to be legitimate. His findings led to an internal investigation by the parent company that owns both sites. It found rogue employees had defrauded players over three years via a security hole that allowed the cheats to see other player's secret (or hole) cards." The (Mohawk) Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which licenses the two poker companies, has released its preliminary report. MSNBC reporting from a couple of weeks back gives deep background on the scandal.

Comments

Re:*mucks his hand*

[ShieldW0lf]

So, is this a matter of the "poor players" who deserve better, even though they don't really deserve anything better than to lose all their money, which they did?

Is it a matter of the "poor businesspeople" who are fleecing suckers, getting rich and producing precisely zero value in return?

No, I think it's more a matter of these cheaters doing a public service. The players chose to throw their money away, while the business shouldn't exist in the first place.

Doesn't look like there is much hope that they will retain their freedom or their winnings, but maybe we'll all get lucky and the bastards running the casino won't get any of it back.

mod]9 up

[Anonymous Coward]

not so 3ad. To the My efforts were

The end of the world isn't until next year

[davidwr]

We can all thank the liquid helium leak for an extra 6 months of life on this planet. :)

Re:*mucks his hand*

[ShieldW0lf]

I might lose 25 dollars a month playing poker for 10 hours of entertainment, because I'm not that good, but still I only play 5 dollar games that aren't winner-takes all. My neighbour rents 5 movies a month for 10 hours of entertainment, spending 25 dollars. He's the good guy and I'm the bad guy why exactly?

You're not a bad guy. But people like you didn't lose anything to these scammers. You spend your money, you lose, you go watch tv, just like usual. You're like a retard burning his money and gleefully clapping while it burns pretty colors. Not bad exactly, just kind of sad to watch.

Which is how the people running the casinos are bad. They don't mug people or shoot people, they just take advantage of retarded people. Which might be legal, but is still kind of reprehensible, and the sort of thing you would expect a reasonable person to disapprove of.

Re:*mucks his hand*

[ShieldW0lf]

Whatever. Bite your shoulder and hit your chest with your wrist. Then give me your money, retard.