Kahnawake Gaming Commission Audit UltimateBet

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission announced the initial findings of its audit of licensee UltimateBet yesterday, and it appears there was cheating on the site between May 2004 and January 2008.

Online poker fans outraged by the Absolute Poker.com and more recent Ultimate Bet.com hole card scams may be mollified by a report this week from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission following an independent investigation carried out by gaming regulatory expert Frank Catania.

For months players have bemoaned the apparent lack of action against the alleged perpetrators of the multi-million dollar scam, and a perceived lack of transparency by ownership company Tokwiro Enterprises and the KGC itself.

In the statement on the three-and-a-half year scam, the KGC says that Catania has uncovered the identity of the chief perpetrator, and names him as former World Series of Poker champ and former UltimateBet affiliate executive Russ Hamilton. The statement claims that over $60 million in fraudulent play was involved.

It is estimated that players were cheated out of a total of $6.1 million, and UltimateBet has been directed to reimburse the players for the entire sum. UltimateBet will also have to pay KGC a fine of $1.5 million for its failure to implement and enforce measures to prohibit and detect fraudulent activities.

In the future UltimateBet will not be allowed to delete or modify any logs, including but not limited to Web logs and game logs as required by Kahnawake Interactive Gaming Regulations. The site will continue to be required to have those logs available for inspection by the KGC.

Furthermore, UltimateBet has been instructed to remove any and all of the persons deemed as "unsuitable" by the KGC from all involvement with the company, which includes all levels of ownership, management and operation.

To read the press release in its entirety click here.

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