60 Minutes Poker
In addition to the buzz around the seizure of 141 internet gambling domains by the Governor of Kentucky, an upcoming story by CBS’ “60 Minutes” has also been the center of discussion at the CAP Euro Barcelona event. Poker News Daily has learned that the story by “60 Minutes” should air on Sunday, October 26th, just days before the general elections in the United States. The program will likely cover the user scandals at Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, which have made headlines across the poker world in recent months.
The cheating on Ultimate Bet occurred between May of 2004 and January of 2008. An Ultimate Bet table is seen in the video posted on 60 Minutes’ website. In addition, an accompanying story mentions the online poker room by name. Tokwiro also owns and operates Absolute Poker as well as the new online poker network CEREUS. CBS News' 60 Minutes (actually 42 minus commercials) did an extensive piece on the Ultimate Bet/Absolute Poker insider cheating scandal last night. More video, transcript and a bunch of other related goodies are here. Free slots, video poker, 60 Minutes Online Poker blackjack, solitaire, and more. Hit a Token jackpot in top games like Wheel of Fortune® Slots, Deal or No Deal™ Slots, and Video Bingo Deluxe!
The story by the longstanding news magazine will focus on the scandals that have rocked Ultimate Bet and may include the POTRIPPER issues at its sister site, Absolute Poker. In addition, the rumor around the industry is that “60 Minutes” is teaming up with a major newspaper for the story, which may be just weeks from airing. In its last update on the NioNio scandal that rocked the online poker site, Ultimate Bet listed additional user names that were involved: Crackcorn55, WhakMe, GrabBag123, gravitation, Bgroup, H_Curtis, Twenty 1, WacoManiac, Broke_In_L_A, ShaqTack, BlueBerry101, HolyMucker, 55WasHere, Xnomas, dannyboy55, Indy05, and SlimPikins2.
The cheating on Ultimate Bet began back in 2005, one year before its current ownership group, Tokwiro, purchased the site. Also in June, Ultimate Bet was scheduled to begin the refund process for players who were affected by the abuse. The transgressions surrounded the exploitation of an auditing tool which enabled its users to view the hole cards of every player at an online poker table.
In May, Ultimate Bet’s parent company released a statement that included the following: “We would like to thank our customers for their patience, loyalty, and support, as well as for their understanding that we are doing everything we can to correct this situation. The staff and management of Ultimate Bet are fully committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our players and we want to assure customers of our unwavering resolve to monitor site security with every resource at our disposal.”
60 Minutes Poker Story
Since then, one of the accounts in question was linked to a Las Vegas owned home of Russ Hamilton, one of the former owners of the site. However, no admission has been given publicly by Hamilton. Over the summer, Team PokerStars Pro member Barry Greenstein and Joe Sebok traveled to Hamilton’s residence. Greenstein came away from the interview feeling as if, by the time the truth was known, Hamilton would not be one of those indicted.
A $75 million claim filed against a software manufacturer was the subject of an article by MSNBC with the title “Poker site cheating plot a high-stakes whodunit.” The article, which was published last week, seemed to trump any momentum “60 Minutes” would have had, although the television station’s program is likely to be more visible.
The latest move in the Ultimate Bet investigation was the Kahnawake Gaming Commission naming Frank Catania, a former gaming regulator in the state of New Jersey, to lead a formal inquiry into the matter. His website, CataniaConsulting.com, states that he “serves as one of three independent directors of eCOGRA. He served as the first president of the International Masters of Gaming Law, a non-profit association dedicated to the education and advancement of gaming law, vice chair and chair, respectively, of the International Association of Gaming Regulators and past chairman of the Forum of American Casino Regulators.”
We’ll have further information for you as it develops.
When I was a child, there were two things my Grandfather (a Southern Baptist minister) would not miss, without exception - The nightly news with Walter Cronkite, and 60 Minutes - every Sunday at 7pm.
I would often watch '60 Minutes' with my grandfather - not caring (or understanding) what the people were saying, just happy to spend some QT with my grandfather, who I looked up to a great deal. I really thought '60 Minutes' was one of the journalistic bastions of our society.
So, imagine my surprise when, this past Sunday, this revered haven of American journalism ran a report that was based on a completely faulty premise. Online gaming is not illegal in the United States. Don't get me wrong, its not exactly legal either. But, there are no laws expressly prohibiting online gaming - either at a consumer, or a corporate level.
60 Minutes Poker
Yet, throughout this report (Which was actually titled 'Illegal, and thriving'), the anchor kept on and on with the premise that online gambling is illegal, even going so far as to say at one point 'The federal government is clear - gambling on the Internet is illegal'.
60 Minutes Online Poker
Well, the government may say this activity is illegal, but it simply isn't the case. The current administration would like this to be the case, and as is their normal M.O. they simply say it over, and over until they hope the people begin to take it as fact.
In fact, the piece of legislation they assert as making online gaming illegal, has absolutely no basis in either the Internet, or all forms of gaming other than sports betting. The Wire Act is designed to prevent bookies from taking sports bets over the phone. This legislation was enacted in 1961, long before the Internet was even a spark in anyone's mind. This piece of legislation was challenged in the World Court earlier this year by the online gaming center of Aruba, and the challenge was upheld - the Wire Act has no relevance to online gaming, or the Internet at all, the court found.
Still, the anchor went on, and on 'How can people advertise a business that is illegal?' 'Why are millions of people participating in this illegal activity?'. I'll tell you why - because it's not illegal. If it was expressly illegal, do you think the outlets would carry the advertising? Of course not. When is the last time you saw a drug dealer advertise?
Shame on '60 Minutes' for taking the current administration's 'Party Line', and regurgitating it into a story that would have been better served on 'Hard Copy'.
I thought Nigel Payne, CEO of Sporting Bet, did a fantastic job in his interview in the story deflecting all the barbs directed at him (and in fact at our entire industry), and did a great job of turning the focus around to the great need for regulation.
The only solution here is regulation. If you don't want underage kids playing, regulate the industry, so that only scrupulous, established firms can participate. If you don't want problem gamblers ruining their lives on the Internet - regulate. Force the companies to be responsible, and you know what? They will be. Sure, 'cowboy' companies will come along now and again, but with firm, clear regulations on the books - they won't last long.
The genie is out of the bottle with respect to online gaming. This isn't like the peer-to-peer issue (aka Napster) of a few years ago. There are many areas of the world where online gaming is, and will remain legal. Therefore, there will always be places on the Internet that Americans can gamble.
60 Minutes Poker
Oh, by the way, the most important point about regulation. Mr. Payne estimated during his interview that the US government had lost out on 1.2 Billion dollars in lost tax revenue, were they to have regulated January 1st, 2004, and taxed this industry at the same rate the UK does.
I hope the people on Capitol Hill can come to their senses about this issue. Also, I hope '60 Minutes' can be a little more independently minded next time, and investigate the issue thoroughly. My Grandfather, and I will be watching.