By
Dan |
Published
Nov 26 2008, 12:01 PM
Rumors have been swirling around the online poker industry as to when a report by CBS News program “60 Minutes” about the recent cheating scandals on Absolute Poker and UltimateBet would air. On Tuesday, we received our answer. The story, which is actually a joint production by 60 Minutes and the Washington Post newspaper, will air this Sunday, November 30th, at 7:00pm ET. The report is dubbed “How Online Gamblers Unmasked Cheaters” and is one of three features that will air on 60 Minutes this weekend. Also scheduled to be a part of the show are news clips about Silver Star winner Monica Brown as well as U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
A video posted on CBS’ website shows Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles commenting on his encounter with GRAYCAT, one of the super user accounts involved in the Absolute Poker scandal. He told 60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft (pictured above), “He was raising really, really bad hands against very good hands. He seemed to play crazy. It seemed like he was giving his money away, except the only thing was, he wasn’t losing.”
PocketFiver Michael PokerStarsMichaelJ Josem, who identifies himself as a “Game Security Specialist” in his profile on the site, is also featured in the video. He explained to 60 Minutes reporters, “We did the mathematical analysis to find that they were winning at about 15 standard deviations above the mean, which is approximately equivalent to winning a one in a million jackpot six consecutive times.”
In January, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), which licenses Absolute Poker, its sister site Ultimate Bet, as well as a number of other online poker rooms, issued its final decision regarding Absolute’s cheating scandal. In its report, it stated that for a period of six weeks beginning in Mid-August of 2007, the accounts GRAYCAT, PAYUP, STEAMROLLER, POTRIPPER, XXCASHMONEYXX, SUPERCARDM55, DOUBLEDRAG, RONFALDOXXB, and ROMNALDO played with the ability to see the hole cards of other players at the table.
The KGC added, “There is no evidence to indicate that the impugned activities were initiated or sanctioned by AP as a corporate entity. There is no evidence that the impugned activities benefited, or were intended to benefit, AP as a corporate entity.” Absolute Poker was fined $500,000 by the KGC and also posted a security deposit in the event of a future breach of Commission rules.
UltimateBet’s parent company, Tokwiro, recently received a $15 million settlement from former site owners Excapsa to pay back customers that were wronged by the actions of Russ Hamilton and other accomplices in the scandal on that site. Hamilton and company exploited an auditing tool that exposed the hole cards of all players seated at a table. 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.
In a statement by the KGC summing up its findings in the UltimateBet investigation, the organization gave the online poker room until November 3rd to “remove any and all persons deemed ‘unsuitable’ by the KGC from all involvement with the company, which shall include all levels of ownership, management, and operation.”
Frank Catania, who has been leading an independent investigation for the KGC, told PocketFives.com what he believes the fallout from the 60 Minutes investigation will be: “I don’t think there will be that much fallout. What's happened is that the KGC has made sure that all of the players have been reimbursed. No one lost any money here.” Catania added that poker players who notice anomalies like what occurred on Absolute Poker and UltimateBet should speak up, as much of the information learned about the two scandals ultimately played out on online poker forums.
The teaser video also shows play from the World Series of Poker. Representatives from the CBS News program traveled to the Rio in Las Vegas and spoke to executives from Harrah’s as well as a number of poker pros. Which interviews made the final cut into Sunday’s segment are unknown.
* Image of Steve Kroft courtesy of 60 Minutes