UltimateBet Finally Acknowledges Cheating - 06-01-08

June 1 - The owners admitted last week that formers employees had found access to "super user" accounts which allowed them to see their opponent's hole cards, enabling them to cheat in numerous high stales games over a period spanning months.

In a company statement, Tokwiro confirmed that certain accounts "had an unfair advantage" and had target the highest limit games at Ultimate Bet. Upon further investigation the individuals involved were found to be ex employees who worked for Ultimate Bet before the takeover by Tokwiro in 2006. The company said it has started to refund affected accounts.

Tokwiro has already been involved in another huge scandal when a similar scam was uncovered at Absolute Poker. They were subsequently fined $500,000 by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

The allegations of cheating started in January, when high stakes players started suspecting the user called "NioNio" for irregular play. After the complaints, UltimateBet suspended a number of accounts.

Here is Tokwiro's version of the story:

* February 2008: After a preliminary investigation, a number of accounts are considered suspicious and Ultimate Bet involves independent gaming experts to conduct further investigations. They discover that these accounts belong to former employees.
* February 2008: The code that allows the viewing of hole cards is discovered. It was allegedly part of an old auditing system.
* February 2008: UltimateBet removes the code and worked with the Gaming Commission and auditors to verify that the loophole has been closed.
* March 2008: Tokwiro confirm the account names involved in the cheating, and reveals that there wee six accounts involved and that their names were changed regularly.
* May 2008: The investigation is concluded and confirms fraudulent activity between March 7, 2006 to December 3, 2007.
* May 2008: Independent auditors confirmed that the loophole has been closed.

UltimateBet will start to refund affected accounts, and that they plan to put measures in place to avoid any such loopholes being exploited in future.

As was the case with the Absolute Poker fiasco, the online poker community has expressed its dissatisfaction with the non-transparent way in which Tokwiro dealt with the issue.

Our opinion? There are enough other sites to play poker...

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