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Copyright © 4 Flush
HEADLINE: Kahnawake Issues Report
on Absolute Poker’s Online
Poker Scandal
Body:
In a small blurb back on December 12th 2007, the Kahnawake Gaming
Commission had two sentences posted under their News category
saying:
“The Kahnawake Gaming Commission has received a report
from Gaming Associates which it is now in the process of reviewing.
The Commission hopes to complete its review and render a decision
in this matter within the next two weeks.”
Now, almost a month later, they have finally released the report
and the penalty they will impose based on the findings by the
Gaming Associates audit.
The Gaming Associates audit took approximately 10 weeks with
the cooperation of Absolute
Poker. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission then issued this report.
Most who have followed this story will not find any new information
provided in the report that the online poker community had not
already found out on its own. In summary the report says:
That as of August 14th, 2207 and continuing for about 6 weeks
AP systems were “compromised” by players using seven
accounts. These players used software that “enabled the
viewing of ‘hole cards’ of each of the other players”.
The accounts were (taken from report):
• GRAYCAT
• PAYUP
• STEAMROLLER
• POTRIPPER
• ZZCASHMONEYXX also known as SUPERCARDM55
• DOUBLEDRAG
• RONFALDOXXB also known as ROMNALDO
The audit also revealed that “person(s) associated with
AP’s operations deleted certain gaming logs and records”
which resulted in the slow investigation but did add that Commission
was “satisfied with the level of cooperation” that
the Absolute
Poker management and staff provided. It also added that it
did not find any evidence that the “impugned activities”
was initiated or approved by AP through its Board of Directors
or principle owner and that no evidence was present to show it
benefited or intended to benefit the cooperation or owner.
Although that they did not benefit from the security breach,
they are not fault free and the online
poker community has been screaming “cover up”
since the story broke and AP did not immediately issue a statement.
The Kahnawake report addresses those issues by exposing the fact
that AP failed to even contact the Commission with 24 hours after
they became aware of the breach.
The Commission also goes on the say that they are satisfied by
the way AP reimbursed players affected but it was the way it was
worded that stood out. It said that AP made “expeditious
efforts” to reimburse all players, with interest, who participated
in the games shortly after the “impugned activities”
became publicly known. (Emphasis added)
Lastly, the Commission states that Absolute Poker has taken the
necessary steps to prevent this from happening again.
The Commission found that Absolute
Poker had breached four sections of the Commissions regulations
and imposed the following sanctions on AP:
1) For the next two years AP will be subject to random audits
at their expense. If the results of any of these audits find that
AP has breached any provisions, Absolute
Poker’s license may be suspended or revoked. The Commission
will direct AP to “implement a continuous compliance program
and other remedial measures” and all person(s) responsible
will have to be permanently removed from “mind or management
and/or operations and proof, satisfactory to the Commission.”
2) 60 days to pay in full a fine of $500.000.00
3) To post a security deposit set by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission
to be held for two years to be used to off set any future expenses
due to breaches of the Kahnawake Gaming Law or any other provisions.
4) Absolute
Poker must pay all costs associated to the investigation
The report is signed by David Montour, Chairperson, Melanie Mayo,
Commissioner and Kevin Kennedy, Commissioner.
For some in the poker community this reports lack of details
may not satisfy them due to the fact that it did not address how
the cheating was accomplished, names of those involved and if
legal action is being sought against them.
Only time will tell if this report will have any impact of the
trust that Absolute Poker lost due to the way they handled this
situation.
View the Kahnawake
Gaming Commission report. (.pdf)
Absolute
Poker Bonus
Related: See
U.S. Poker
Article
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