Sixty Minutes Expose, Not So Harsh: 2
The Sixty Minutes expose left the online casino supporters feeling a bit
relieved that the claims of harshness towards the industry where just that,
rumors. Although they were tough on online casinos and the companies that have
caused scandal over the past few years, they were fair according to most
viewers. The biggest issue at the top of the program was the fact that most
online casinos are located in many different international locations. There are
no regulations for internet gambling that span the globe, so that is where it
gets messy. They claim that even though internet gambling is illegal in the
United States it is almost impossible to enforce punishment to individual
players playing in off shore online casinos or poker rooms.
Steve Kroft, the show’s host, interviewed several online casino players that
were key players in the UltimateBet and Absolute Poker cheating scandals. They
were a helpful part in the investigation and with their cooperation the
authorities were able to receive details of the cheating that is pretty well
known through out the online gambling circles. The people who were victims of
the cheating were also interviewed as to how much they lost and when they became
suspicious that they were not being dealt a fair hand at their favorite online
casinos.
One player in particular, David Paredes, made enough money playing poker at the
online casino that he was able to pay off his school loans from his days at
Harvard Law and had enough left over to live in a pricy apartment in New York
City. He was a victim of what is called “fleecing” from a player called “Nio Nio”.
He was asked how much he lost during that time and he answered, “I'm probably
down somewhere in the range of $70 000 to that particular player." But he
mentioned that there were other people who lost more at the online casinos, "In
the range of $250 000, $90 000, $70 000, $210 000," he told Kroft.