There's lots more
information to report on the Absolute Poker debacle, which has
gained worldwide attention and has already been reported by ABC
News and MSNBC. You probably already know the story so I don't
really know why I am writing about it, except that I'm bored and
have nothing better else to do. It's also a good way to vent,
because dammit, I know the ignorant gambling haters out there
are going to use this as an example why people should not gamble
online. On the other hand, it's also a great opportunity for
proponents of regulating online casino gambling in the U.S. to
show what happens when players are subjected to "regulated"
offshore betting sites, and that if regulation from within was
in place, this would keep U.S. players from venturing to bet at
offshore online casinos.
I know that Absolute Poker
is regulated. But guess who they are regulated by? That's
right. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission, who in my opinion, is
the least effective regulator of the big licensing jurisdictions
out there, which include Curacao, Antigua, Gibraltar, Alderney,
Isle of Man and UK. Furthermore, the fact that Absolute Poker
Room is owned by Kahnawake interests further damages the name
and reputation of Kahnawake Gaming Commission.
So here is where the case
stands now: Absolute has formerly declared they have uncovered
an internal breach of security, which they are pinning on an
unnamed employee, who one company spokesperson referred to a
"geek" trying to make a point to his superiors the software
could indeed be hacked. If you ask me, that's bullshit. First of
all, even after players first began making charges there was a
breach and even accused the player "Pot Ripper" as being a
super-user, Absolute refuted the allegations and claimed a
super-user was impossible. The only reason they are admitting
anything now is because they've got their backs to the wall with
evidence right in front of them.
This evidence was
inadvertently shared with a player who requested to have his
hand histories emailed to him. A member of Absolute Poker staff
emailed a master Excel file to the players, which instead of
revealing just his hand history, it revealed hand histories, ip
addresses and email addresses of every player sitting at his
table, which included "Pot Ripper". And guess where Pot Ripper's
IP address was tracked back to? The Kahnawake Gaming servers,
which host Absolute's software. Further digging showed the
account activity coming out of Costa Rica I believe, while the
account was registered in the name of Absolute's former Director
of Operations and the email was traced back to Absolute's
former/current part owner, Scott Tom.
Absolute is denying any
involvement with Scott Tom in true Attorney General Gonzalez
fashion, and keeps pinning an unnamed individual working for the
company. Give me a break! This racket goes all the way to the
top (or at least the people hiding behind the top). Considering
that "Pot Ripper" and possibly other super-user accounts stole
from $500K to $1 million, none of which was cashed out, goes to
show the money was being funneled back into the company,
ultimately going into the owners pockets. I hope Kahnwake and
Absolute go down for this one. Maybe not Kahnawake, but
definitely Absolute. I hope Kahnwake steps things up and gets
their arses in gear with other licensing jurisdictions like the
UK. Better yet, where are you U.S. I know you can do better than
this!