Ultimate Bet Poker Cheating Scandal

Ultimate Bet Poker will refund $15.1M to their online poker players who have been affected by the scandal. An Ontario Superior Court judge on Monday has approved the $15 million settlement to be paid by Excapsa shareholders to Blast Off to allow Ultimate Bet to stay in business, be licensed by the KGC, and to refund all cheated players. According to documents filed by the liquidator, Blast Off originally wanted $81.4-million in actual damages for being sold a corrupted software package. That figure includes $5-million for harm to Ultimate Pokers reputation and $49-million for actual damage to the company's overall value as a result of the cheating, which has been widely reported in and out of the gambling world. The KGC, which regulates online gambling run out of the Mohawk Territory in Canada, reported in September that it had found "clear and convincing evidence" of "multiple cheating incidents" on Ultimate Bet (between May 2004 and January 2008) involving software being used to enable insiders to see opponents' hole cards. There has been tremendous outrage by players who have claimed to being cheated over the years by Ultimate Bet Poker, and their reputation has definitely been tarnished. The KGC identified the 1994 WSOP bracelet winner Russell Hamilton, a former consultant to Ultimate Bet, as "the main person responsible" for the cheating. Mr. Hamilton has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing, and he has not responded to the allegations. The site has already paid out $6.1-million but has calculated that it owes at least another $9-millon to online poker players who were cheated.
"The good message, and the message that Ultimate Bet wants to send, is that it not only cleaned up and took out the tool, but it's refunding players, many of whom probably don't even know that they were cheated and probably don't have the proof."

I personally disagree with this statement. Most players who were affected by this scandal were aware that something fishy was going on at that poker room. I have found hundreds of blog entries claiming that there was cheating occurring at the poker website.

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