Ultimate Bet Scandal

[PokerGob]

UltimateBet.com, owned by a group controlled by previous Kahnawake Grand Chief Joe Norton, recognized on Thursday that unnamed insiders had tainted its poker software to permit them to observe opponents' concealed cards.

"The persons to blame were found to have worked for the prior ownership of UltimateBet preceding to the sale of the business to Tokwiro [Mr. Norton's company] in October 2006," the site said in a statement. "Tokwiro is taking full responsibility for this situation and will immediately begin refunding UltimateBet customers for any losses that were incurred as a result of unfair play."

The business refused to divulge the sum of deceptive winnings, but poker observers have said it runs into the millions. Some say they were winning over $150,000 per month. Ultmatebet.com has publicly acknowledged that the altered software was in place for at least 15 months...

You may or may not know that Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet are virtually the same company, PokerGob is looking for member feedback and information.

[Peach46]

I think you need to stop promoting these sites, both have now been named in scandals and it seems to me that they are fully aware of the goings on on their sites, but continue to have issues after issues with them, so I feel in the best interest of our site here it would be best to stop promoting them and find some new sites to join our community, besides since I have been a member either Ultimate bet or Absolute have yet to host a tournament for us, so I say Thumbs Down to these sites, can them....

[PokerGob]

These are the key events in the course of the incident.

* January 2008: UltimateBet is alerted to suspicions of unfair play on the part of the account "NioNio". Within 24 hours, UltimateBet contacts the KGC to provide formal notice that UltimateBet has initiated an investigation of the incident. UltimateBet subsequently forwarded a copy of all related data to the KGC.

* January 2008: The "NioNio" account and related accounts are suspended pending further investigation.

* February 2008: Preliminary findings indicate abnormally high winning statistics for the suspect accounts. After discussions with the KGC, UltimateBet engages third-party gaming experts to assist with the analysis.

* February 2008: Investigators confirm that the suspect accounts are associated with individuals who had worked for UltimateBet under the previous ownership.

* February 2008: UltimateBet discovers the unauthorized code that allowed the perpetrators to obtain hole card information during live play. The code was part of a legacy auditing system that was manipulated by the perpetrators of the fraud.

* February 2008: UltimateBet immediately removes the unauthorized code and works with the KGC and with third-party auditors to verify that the security hole has been eliminated.

* March 2008: Six player accounts are confirmed to have participated in this scheme. No accounts were deleted at any point, although some account names were changed multiple times. The following account names are known to have been used in the fraudulent activity: NioNio, Sleepless, NoPaddles, nvtease, flatbroke33, ilike2win, UtakeIt2, FlipFlop2, erick456, WhackMe44, RockStarLA, stoned2nite, monizzle, FireNTexas, HeadKase01, LetsPatttty, NYMobser, and WhoWhereWhen.

* May 2008: The investigation confirms that the fraudulent activity took place from March 7, 2006 to December 3, 2007.

* May 2008: Gaming Associates certifies that the software code that enabled unfair play was removed from UltimateBet servers in February of 2008.

* May 2008: Customers affected by this incident are identified, and plans for corrective action are reviewed with the KGC.

[krown]

I have never played at either of these sites but the name of the ownership group sounds very familiar. Is it not the same people that have just purchased Bodog as well? I tried to sign up and being Canadian they would not allow me to. I later received an email stating that It was purchased by the Kahnawake Mohawk casino, and that some time within the next year they would allow Canadian players. Is the same problem going to occur at this site as well????

[PokerGob]

The Kahnawake Mohawk Commission is empowered to regulate and control gaming and gaming related activities conducted within and from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake. For those that don't know the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory is an Indian reserve on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, across from Montreal. They regulate a lot of internet sites, and yes Bodog is one of them. It is not that they own the internet sites, but they are required to regulate them. So far the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) has been involved with a few sites that have had a problem.

I am very displeased with the recent online poker scandals. I am starting to be really turned off to online poker because of it. The people who are seeing the hole cards are being very obvious as well. In a way it is so ridiculous, for example the above player mentioned, "WhoWhereWhen," had a 100% winning percentage at showdown now that's just comically corrupt!

[TeamLazy]

Yeah, I heard about Absolute a few months back. Wow Deja vu. The same scandal pulled off again. I wouldn't be surprised to see that these are the same perpetrators at Absolute or have a close connection to them. (two names involved in the Absolute scandal are A.J. Green and Scott Tom) Its sounds like Tokwire Ent. are trying mend bridges and that they have been shanghaied in poor business deal. Norton is probable making his hit list as we speak. Or... he just might be the man behind the curtain knowing all along. ...Probably still making that hit list... Time will only tell. If Ultimate bet were to release data like what was released from Absolutes tournament with CrazyMarco and PotRipper then we (the public) would have some definite leads to the perpetrators but they are probably keeping that under wraps this time around because I think last time it was an accident when it was released from Absolute.

[skilled2own]

At this point gob, i think any hacker can find a way into any site we play. Or people that work for a online gaming company can find a dummy account that was set up by a site to see how the programming they use is working right. Yes they did the same thing in ap, used a previous account to steal money. I highly doubt that at the end its just going to be UB @ Ap that have this problem. The main issue with Ap and Ub, if you created an account to watch the programmin, why wasnt it terminated when usage was stopped, they were just askin for trouble. But people see thee things and still play on these sites, isnt that something. Gl at the wsop.

[Kathys]

I just think it's horrible and yes they are refunding. Unfortunately I know this for a fact as I've received some of my money back. Sad part is how do I know that's all the money I'm due back how am I supposed to remember that far back? I just have to trust the amount.

[HausWells]

I had no idea! I'm glad I signed on this site for the first time!