Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, the parent company of UltimateBet, yesterday received a decision from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, UB’s regulatory authority, regarding the UB cheating scandal in 2008. The report, which followed an intensive and exhaustive investigation, ruled that Tokwiro has met the conditions imposed on it and has shown adequate cause as to why its Client Provider Authorization (“CPA”) should not be revoked. The report also included a full public disclosure of all 23 accounts and 117 usernames that were used by the cheater. The method for determining the list of names was approved by the KGC and their forensic auditors.
The KGC concluded that Tokwiro was not aware of the deficiencies in the control system until after the cheating activity had been initiated; Tokwiro fully cooperated with the KGC throughout the investigation to identify the individual(s) responsible for the cheating incidences; No individual identified as “unsuitable” is currently involved in any aspect of Tokwiro’s ownership, management and operations; Tokwiro has ensured that all players victimized by the cheating activity were promptly and fully reimbursed; and Tokwiro has paid the USD$1.5 Million fine imposed by the KGC, plus the costs of the investigation.
Paul Leggett, Chief Operating Officer for Tokwiro said, “The welfare of our players is our top priority and we are very pleased they now have access to the details of the fraud and all the facts and findings released by the KGC included in their report. A lot of our players have been patiently awaiting the release of the full list of usernames involved in the cheating incidences, and we can now answer any of their outstanding inquiries related to their refunds.”
With the completion of the investigation, the KGC has now released their final list of account numbers (User ID) and usernames (the “cheating accounts”), and they are provided on Kahnawake's website.
It is important to note that the legacy UB software, which is no longer in use, historically allowed a username to be reused, provided that the username was no longer associated with an account. Because of this, it is possible that some of the usernames which were released yesterday by the KGC may have been used by legitimate accounts, once those usernames were no longer used and controlled by the perpetrator. It is also a fact that a very small number of the usernames associated with the cheating accounts never actually played a hand.
As previously determined by independent investigations and stated in yesterday’s KGC report, the malicious software code that enabled the cheating was placed on UB servers prior to Tokwiro’s acquisition of the business from Excapsa Software in 2006. Tokwiro’s consistent position that the ability to cheat predated its ownership was vindicated by the recent legal settlement with Excapsa, under the terms of which Excapsa paid Tokwiro USD$15 million in partial compensation for the damage that was done by the cheating. This payment went toward the USD$22,054,351.91 in complete refunds that Tokwiro issued to the players that were adversely affected by the UB cheating incidences.
“It is extremely important to us that our players and the rest of the poker community understand that the individuals who perpetrated the cheating have never had any involvement with our company and we hope that the KGC report helps to inform the poker community of this fact,” Leggett added. “Over the past year we have literally rebuilt our company, creating a new management team and core staff that are poker players themselves and passionate about the game, and we are very excited to demonstrate what we can do in the coming months.”
In response to the cheating scandal, Tokwiro has implemented a range of key security measures that include a complete corporate reorganization, the dissemination of new mandatory ethics policies as well as strict policies regarding account name changes and VIP player vetting, the creation of an expanded Security Department to incorporate a specialized group of poker security analysts, and the development of a state-of-the-art Security Center that uses statistical analysis and real-time monitoring to catch cheating, including collusion, chip-dumping, bots, and other illicit activities.
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