Online Casino Admits Insiders Changed Software to Cheat
UltimateBet.com, one of the multitude of online gambling sites run from the Kahnawake reservation near Montreal, has revealed it discovered employees had altered software on poker sites to allow them to see opponents' cards.
While Tokwiro, the company owned by Kahnawake chief Joe Norton which acquired UltimateBet in the fall of 2006, claims the culprits were employed by the previous ownership, Tokwiro still accepts responsibility to the players affected, and will refund bets found to have occurred in games where cheating occurred.
Absolute Poker, also owned by the Kahnawake, was fined by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in the amount of $500,000, for a similar cheating scandal in January. That event was also blamed on former employees.
While some online sites have shut down and disappeared due to funding problems, leaving players without the money in accounts, these are the first real deliberate cheating scandals uncovered in the world of online casinos.
In this multi-billion dollar industry, everything rides on public confidence in the honesty of the games. If players believe the software does not duplicate their chances from fleah-and-blood games, the revenue stream will abruptly dry up.
The Kahnawake situation is dire and needs immediate adressing. Transparency is a must, and criminal prosecutions should follow these discoveries of cheating. So far, all the tribe has said is that the players involved are baned, and future charges are in the hands of the Gaming Commission.
The Kahnawake also are fighting a battle with Canadian authorities, who consider the Kahnawake casinos illegal. The tribe proclaims sovereignity allows them to disregard Canadian law, and so far the government has not wished to begin a court battle. But inability to control the legitimacy of their games will cause the Kahnawake to lose much support in the struggle to retain the online gambling sites.
