60 Minutes on CBS

As I don’t live in the US, I’ve no idea what was on the show or in the Washington Press. Here’s Poker News‘ article on the matter.

A cooperative mainstream investigatory piece offering an overview of the Absolute Poker and UltimateBet insider cheating scandals was aired by “60 Minutes” and published by the Washington Post on Sunday, though it shed little new light on a situation already familiar to many dedicated online players. The twin efforts from the two mainstream outlets rehashed the work of online players who uncovered the cheating over the past year, though the reports differed widely in their approach to the story.

The Washington Post piece, which was the first to go public on Sunday morning, began with a relatively accurate examination of the discovery of the cheating by players’ examination of hand histories, then painted a less than rosy picture of what it inferred was a lax regulatory environment that allowed the cheating to occur. The “60 Minutes” segment hosted by Steve Kroft followed a similar track but did so in a far more sensational manner, skimming many of the facts in the scandals themselves while becoming a superficial, politically themed fingerpointing, yet without connecting the dots or exploring the regulatory issues involved.

Both pieces – but in particular the “60 Minutes” segment — threw generalized aspersions toward the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, the licensing and regulatory agency that oversees some 450 online gambling sites and is primarily housed on the Kahnawake reservation outside Montreal. Kahnawake Grand Chief Michael Arihron Delisle was featured in the “60 Minutes” segment in a brief interview that hinted at the regulatory and legal disputes between the sovereign Kahnawake nation and Canada, which surrounds it, but those and other regulatory matters were not explored in detail. In fact, the regulatory and legal-recognition matters promised by “60 Minutes” to be a focus of the story were summarily dropped by air time, leaving only the sensationalistic aspects of the combined cheating scandals, which together exceeded $20 million in player funds, to be aired.

Also dropped from the “60 Minutes” piece were filmed interviews with several prominent poker players and officials, including Mike Sexton, Linda Johnson and Greg Raymer, who were interviewed together during the World Series of Poker this past summer. The broadcast did show segment host Steve Kroft walking the Amazon Room during the WSOP, where the CBS crew filmed segments with several online players that did make it to broadcast. The online players who received air time in the piece were Serge Ravitch, David Paredes, Todd Witteles and Michael Josem, each of whom was involved in some manner with one of the two cheating scandals.

The purchase of Absolute and UltimateBet by former Kahnawake Grand Chief Joe Tokwiro Norton in late 2006 also received brief mention, although Norton declined to be interviewed for either piece. Also declining an interview with CBS was former WSOP Main Event winner Russ Hamilton, who was publicly identified in a statement by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission as the primary cheater in the UltimateBet situation, along with five collaborators and a total of 88 known cheating accounts not yet fully identified by KGC investigators. (A final report on the UB cheating investigation has yet to be released by the KGC.) The total combined cheating tally of more than $20 million was mentioned, but the separate roles that Norton’s company, Tokwiro Enterprises, and the KGC played in securing funds and coordinating reimbursements to cheated players was not.

Also skipped in Sunday’s two reports was that the software used in the cheating was in both cases installed and put into use by the cheaters before the firms’ joint acquisition by Norton, a situation which led in the case of the UB scandal to have Tokwiro Enterprises legally seek reimbursement against former owner Excapsa for the funds needed to compensate known cheated players, a case settled in Tokwiro Enterprises’ favor, with the funds — some $15 million – immediately redistributed to the players.

KGC spokesman Chuck Barnett noted his disappointment in the attacks directed toward the KGC by the twin pieces, particularly the brief “60 Minutes” segment. Also blurred over in the pieces was the distinction between Joe Norton and his Tokwiro Enterprises, and the KGC and Kahnawake nation itself – Norton served as the Grand Chief of the Kahnawake nation for 25 years, a ceremonial title bestowed upon one member of the nation’s 12-chief board, but retired from that post in 2003.

Barnett, in commenting on the reports, noted that, “While Kahnawake has chosen not to engage in land-based casino operation, for Kroft to state that Kahnawake ‘has no experience’ discounts the fact that no other jurisdiction in the world has been continuously regulating iGaming activities (nearly 10 years), and with no outstanding player disputes is choosing to be ignorant of this industry’s history. In short,” continued Barnett, “this situation was not created in Kahnawake, but when it washed up on our shore, the KGC moved in to deal with the mess.”

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60 Minutes on CBS

60 Minutes and The Washington Post reveal how online poker players suspecting cheating were forced to successfully ferret out the cheaters themselves. That’s because managers of the mostly-unregulated $18 billion Internet gambling industry failed to respond to their complaints. Steve Kroft and The Washington Post’s Gilbert Gaul report.

Absoulte Poker and Ultimate Bet are incriminated in the scandal involving the players GreyCat and P0tripper. Those interviewed for the segment included Mike Sexton, Greg Raymer, and Linda Johnson.

From CBS

A collaboration by two of the world’s most respected news organizations reveals how online poker players suspecting cheating were forced to successfully ferret out the cheaters themselves. That’s because managers of the mostly-unregulated $18 billion Internet gambling industry failed to respond to their complaints.

The results of the four-month investigation by 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft, producer Ira Rosen and The Washington Post’s two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Gilbert Gaul will appear this Sunday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT on 60 Minutes.

“He was raising, just really, really bad hands against very good hands. He seemed to play crazy,” says Todd Witteles, a computer scientist turned poker player who believed he was losing too much to the same person. “It seemed like he was giving his money away. Except the only thing was, he wasn’t losing. He was playing in a style that was sure to lose, but he was killing the game day after day,” Witteles, who played a key detective role, remembers.

Michael Josem, a player and a computer security expert, plotted the odds of such consistent success. “We did the mathematical analysis to find that they were winning at about 15 standard deviations above the mean…approximately equivalent to winning a one-in-a-million jackpot six consecutive times.”

The cheating, which netted the cheaters more than $20 million, occurred on two of the Internet’s most popular sites, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. The two sites operate out of a shopping mall in Costa Rica and run their games on computer servers housed on an Indian reservation outside of Montreal. They are licensed by a Mohawk tribe that has no background in casino gambling, a tribe that previously made the majority of its money selling tax-free tobacco. Though such gambling is illegal in both Canada and the U.S., the betting laws in those countries have no jurisdiction on the sovereign reservation.

The show airs this Sunday night at 7pm in most markets in the US. Check out CBS for more news.

This screenshot has been doctored

Compulsive gamblers now have an NHS clinic to treat them for the first time. The National Problem Gambling Clinic in Soho, central London, has opened it’s doors for a 12-month trial.

Patients will be treated using motivational interviewing cognitive behavioural therapy alongside help with debt management.

More than 250,000 people in Britain are classed as problem gamblers, according to figures released last year by the Gambling Commission.

The clinic’s lead consultant psychiatrist, Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones said:

We have developed a unique treatment package to address specific difficulties that are common to problem gamblers.

Read the Metro for more UK news.

Poker In UK Prisons

Prison bosses have set up poker schools for inmates at the taxpayers’ expense.

Convicts at Saughton in Edinburgh waste hours on end playing on six tables with cards, stacks of chips and green felt mats bought for them. Gambling for money is illegal in prison but inmates keep a secret tab of cash won and lost…and brawls break out over cheating and unpaid debts.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has ordered a probe. He said, “This is unacceptable. I have asked the Scottish Prison Service to look into it as a matter of urgency.

“Gambling is not allowed in prisons and inmates should be making better use of their time than running up debt. We must end this culture of free bed and board. Prison is a punishment for crimes.”

Many lags play for tobacco and sweets but a Saughton source claimed cash changes hands.

He said, “Bosses may be thought poker would keep cons occupied and off drugs. But it has made things worse. There are fights over allegations of cheating and unpaid gambling debts. Prison officers are thoroughly p****d off.”

Adding, “There are at least six of these poker schools on the go from as early as the cons can get to them until they have to go back to their cells. But the officers have trouble getting them back to the cells if they are in the middle of a game, especially if they are losing at that particular time. Cons can buy into games using tobacco and sweets. But as there is obviously a shortage of cash in prison, cons are also buying in on the promise of getting money sent to whoever wins by family or friends on the outside. That doesn’t always happen and it is inevitably a source of friction and fights.”

“Next thing roulette wheels will be put in place, then a lap-dancing club in Saughton – because after this nothing would surprise us.”

Church leaders, politicians and antigambling campaigners are “appalled” by the prison poker schools. Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said, “It is appalling that convicted criminals are allowed to waste their days playing poker. I cannot understand the logic of the person who thought encouraging cons to gamble while in jail was a good idea.”

Reverend Ian Galloway, convener of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council, said letting prisoners and their families run up debt made it even harder for them to change their lifestyle after prison. He added, “If prison is about rehabilitation then poker tables are clearly unhelpful.”

Gambling addiction support group GamCare said, “Prisoners are people at vulnerable stages of their lives so it does seem odd for prison authorities to give them gambling opportunities.”

The Scottish Prison Service confirmed poker sets were part of the recreation equipment at Saughton along with other board and card games. They said, “Poker is popular in culture outside of prisons. Gambling for money is, of course, forbidden and people will be reported if they are caught doing so.”

Inmates have also been given Sony PlayStations and Nintendo Game Boy consoles. They can spend £20 a month getting prison staff to buy them luxuries.

Source: The Sunday Mail

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Clonie Gowan before suing Full Tilt Poker

Well, in 2007, when it came time to receive her distribution check, she was only given a fraction of what she thought she was owed – which was $250,000 from Howard Lederer, chief operator of Full Tilt Poker. Gowen felt the company was worth way more than what Lederer was making it seem to be, and refused the payment. The crazy thing is, despite not being paid she still went ahead and promoted the company anyways!

On November 11th, 2008, she was informed by Full Tilt Poker that she would no longer be apart of Team Full Tilt. This must’ve been the primary factor for Gowen to be bringing such a high-profile lawsuit against the company, especially considering she was supposedly never compensated for promoting the company for the last four years.  The tough thing about this suit is that she openly admits to only having an oral contract that was made with Tiltware LLC executives (controlling company of Full Tilt Poker), and not a definitive written contract about her claims.

The suit alleges the company is worth $4 billion, and she’s owed the 1% she was promised by executives when she signed on with FTP in 2004. It is unclear why she not only named Tiltware LLC in the legal filing, but also other Full Tilt team members such as Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, and Erick Lindgren.

Tiltware LLC has released the following statement about the claims:

“Tiltware, LLC, has been made aware of the recent filing of a meritless lawsuit by a former Full Tilt Poker endorser — Ms. Cycalona Gowen. All claims have no merit and there are many inaccuracies improperly and unlawfully asserted by Ms. Gowen within her frivolous complaint. Tiltware LLC expects that this lawsuit will be dealt with accordingly by a competent court in due course.”

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Rockcastle, 50, sobbed uncontrollably as she professed her love for Las Vegas poker professional, Gustafik, during sentencing by Clark County District Court Judge Michael Villani.

Gustafik was found with 15 stab wounds at the couple’s luxury Las Vegas condominium. His body was discovered by police in the blood splattered bedroom of the couple’s 23rd floor condo’ home. He was a former corrections officer and chiropractor who became a Las Vegas poker pro. Gustafik was known by the nickname “The Manipulator.”

Joseph Abood, defence lawyer for Rockcastle, cast his client as a battered wife who grabbed a knife and stabbed Gustafik after he grabbed her by the hair. However Sam Batemen, prosecutor, said there was no evidence that Gustafik was violent towards his wife.
Several days after the killing, Rockcastle was found unconscious at a motel in California. Police believe she has taken an overdose of prescribed medication after leaving a note in her car to her children and sending confessional e-mails to her close friends.

Women

In her suicide note, Rockcastle claimed her husband had hired a hit man to kill his ex-wife and that he was a user of cocaine and performance enhancing drugs.

She also claimed that she and Gustafik underwent cosmetic surgery and hatched a scheme to sell fake real estate to maintain their high-roller lifestyle.

“We were living this fake life of millionaires. But we weren’t,” she wrote. “We were going broke.”

Jill Rockcastle will serve 10 years to life in a Nevada prison for the murder of her husband.

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