The Ultimate Bet Scandal
Sometimes ago, we all heard about the UltimateBet Scandal. Finally, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) issued an 11-page report documenting the findings of their extensive investigation into the cheating that took place on the on line poker room UltimateBet.
The report found out what many people already believed to be true and also offered some new information about how many people and screen names were involved in the scandal and how much money was stolen from UltimateBet customers.
UltimateBet has been around since 1999. Recently they merged with Absolute Poker to form the Cereus Network. All new graphics, bigger tournaments, better cash game table selection, and improved security has players coming back to UltimateBet to check out this overhauled poker room.
Their famous 111% deposit bonus is still part of their room.
So what happened with the scandal ?
Mostly, many people found out through the end of 2007 and the first part of 2008, players had noticed certain user names winning improbable hands to the point of several statistical deviations. The cheating ran from June 2003 until December 2007 and involved 3 accounts and 117 different user names used both for playing poker with illicit hole card information and transferring money.
Keeping track of hands that seemed suspicious eventually led to the exposure of a software glitch that allowed certain players the ability to see all cards dealt at a table.
The owner of the Ultimate Bet site, Tokowiro Enterprises, was fined $1.5 million, as well as forced to pay restitution of over $22 million to players whose poker outcomes were determined to be involved in compromised hands.
The report pointed out the individual who ultimately bears responsibility for that cheating is 1994 WSOP Main Event winner Russ Hamilton. The available evidence shows that Russell Hamilton, an individual previously associated with the eWorid Holdings Group, was primarily responsible for and benefited from the multiple cheating incidences. The vast majority of the computer devices and IP addresses used by the cheating accounts were directly associated with Russell Hamilton. The vast majority of the cheating accounts transferred money through Russell Hamiltons player accounts.
They, Tokwiro Enterprises, has reportedly refunded the $22 million cheated from players, and Paul Leggett, the Chief Operating Officer, stated, ‘A lot of our players have been patiently awaiting the release of the full list of user names involved in the cheating incidences, and we can now answer any of their outstanding inquiries related to their refunds’.
A lot of the frustration amongst others players is directed at Kahnawake’s refusal to submit the other 31 names involved in the scandal, and why if Russ Hamilton can be named and shamed, the others can’t.
Although not publicly disclosed, the KGC says it has provided extensive information to law enforcement authorities, including the names of those 31 individuals who were associated, to varying degrees, with Russell Hamilton, the cheating accounts and/or transactions related to the cheating accounts.
