The much-anticipated report from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) regarding the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal was released to the public on Thursday. The 11-page document determined that a total of 23 accounts, 117 usernames and 31 individuals were involved in the cheating operation and the KGC pointed the finger at former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Russ Hamilton as the individual who benefitted the most financially from the four years of cheating on the site. What follows is a closer look at what was included in yesterday’s report from the KGC:
In early 2008 the KGC first received a complaint about suspicious incidents on Ultimate Bet. By September the commission concluded there was impropriety taking place at the site’s virtual tables and leveled monetary and continuing performance sanctions on the current owners of UB, Tokwiro Enterprises. Though Tokwiro currently owns both Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, it was eWorld Holdings who controlled UB during the period in which the cheating began.
The most recent report lists the key facts uncovered during the twelve month investigation. The period of cheating occurred from June of 2003 until December of 2007—nearly two years earlier than the January 2005 start date asserted by Ultimate Bet in a press release from June of 2008. The KGC stated that all of the individuals involved in the cheating are no longer affiliated with Ultimate Bet or Tokwiro and that Tokwiro has refunded $22,054,351.91 back to customers affected by the scandal. In addition to issuing refunds, Tokwiro also paid a fine of $1.5 million to the KGC in addition to fully funding the cost of the Commission’s investigation.
Thursday’s reports revealed details about how the cheaters went about their scam, which involved an illicit piece of software that allowed two accounts, called “AuditMonster1” and “AuditMonster2” to the see hole cards of all the players at the table. The illicit code that created what the KGC termed a “stealth observer function” was located within the normal code base and was disabled by UB in February of 2008. The KGC report stated that Tokwiro was unaware of the code when they purchased the company because they were only provided with information regarding source code that had been changed or modified after November of 2005. Since the cheat code had not been modified during that time, it remained undetected by Tokwiro personnel.
Based on “anomalous player statistics” and the transfer of funds between various UB accounts, the KGC was able to cull its list of 117 screennames and 23 users connected to the cheating operation. There are no names listed of the 31 individuals who co-conspired with Hamilton, who is believed by the KGC to be the linchpin of the whole operation. An excerpt from their statement stated the following about Hamilton:
“The individuals who transferred money, changed usernames or withdrew money from accounts, all had ties to the eWorld Holdings Group and/or Russell Hamilton. The beneficiaries of these transfers and withdrawals were either Russell Hamilton or individuals who worked directly with Russell Hamilton or the eWorld Holdings Group.”
The KGC does not have any power to levy criminal charges on Hamilton, but within their statement they conceded his actions could be considered criminal behavior and, as such, they would be happy to cooperate with any law enforcement groups who may try to press charges against Hamilton. Within their statement the KGC said they have already passed along information about the 31 unnamed individuals connected to the cheating to pertinent law enforcement authorities.
While the KGC’s report placed the bulk of the responsibility squarely on Hamilton’s soldiers, Tokwiro will still have to take extra measures in order to ensure their KGC-issued gaming license will not be revoked. The Commission listed nine different conditions to the continuation of Tokwiro’s license which ranged from KGC testing of Tokwiro’s control systems to independent testing of their hand logging software to seeking KGC approval on any new executive hires.
The report ended with a sincere thank you from the KGC to those players who helped uncover the scandal. “The Commission is of the unanimous view that the voices of this online community will continue to play a key role in the shaping the future of online gaming regulation.” The KGC is also now on record that they believe the end result of the investigation led to an “equitable result” for those who play or have played on Ultimate Bet.
