Macao Casino Cheated From Inside...Again!

Macao customs official arrested for embezzling money from casino!

The Judiciary Police (PJ) of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) have apprehended a senior SAR customs service official and his wife, who were suspected of committing theft of 50 million Hong Kong dollars (6.3 million U.S. dollars) in cash and gaming chips from a local casino, the Macao Post Daily reported on Friday.

The two suspects were arrested by the Chinese mainland police in Chongqing, a municipality located in southwestern China, and a sum of 10 million HK dollars (1.3 million U.S. dollars) in cash and 10 million HK dollars in gaming chips were seized from the couple at the time of their arrest, the daily quoted a PJ spokesman as saying. The arrested couple were transferred by the mainland police to the PJ at the Macao-Zhuhai borderline Thursday morning.

The PJ spokesman said the 37-year-old male suspect, surnamed Fu, has already been suspended from his job as he was subjected to an internal investigation earlier. The male suspect had worked thereafter illegally as a gaming promoter for the casino's VIP room, where his wife worked.

The 35-year-old female suspect, surnamed Mou, has been assigned by the VIP room operator to move the 50 million Hong Kong dollars in cash and chips from one room to another within the casino on Feb. 4, but she allegedly disappeared from the casino with the cash and chips, according to the daily.

The PJ spokesman declined to reveal the name of the casino hotel, but the daily quoted unconfirmed sources as saying that it is Crown Macao.

The couple have been transferred to the SAR's Public Prosecution for further investigation and possible arraignment on a series of criminal charges, according to the daily.

Big-Time European Poker Player Linked To Huge Bank Fraud!

Officers from the Serious Fraud Squad are investigating an alleged fraud relating to companies led by entrepreneur and gambler Achilleas Kallakis.

The officers yesterday conducted searches at addresses in central London as part of an investigation into the alleged fraud, which surrounds loans provided between 2003 and 2007 by Allied Irish Bank.

It is alleged that `guarantees of certain lease payments on these properties by an investment grade counterparty (a blue chip property company’ were fraudulent.’

This subsequently led to Allied Irish Bank taking a write-down of £56m after it was realized that `over-riding’ leases allegedly taken by the blue chip property company had artificially inflated values and did not exist.

After this AIB took control of and sold the properties.

It has now emerged that the properties involved were allegedly managed by Kallakis’s Pacific Group - and were before Christmas sold to Green Property, as revealed in Property Week. Green Property is in no way involved with the alleged fraud.

Kallakis, who was unavailable for comment, is also a big name at Europe’s top poker tables. His Pacific Group ventured into property in the early part of the decade on behalf of a Swiss Family Trust, buying properties in London’s St James’s Square and Buckingham Palace Road.

At its peak this portfolio was worth more than £1bn, but having fallen sharply in value was transferred to Green with Allied Irish’s debt package intact late last year.

How To Stop a Cheat at Poker?

Does CogniSafe’s PitBoss and other anti-cheating software programs really allow online poker rooms to reduce cheating against the players? Or are they all just another “How to prevent a cheat at poker” gimmick to make a quick score for the companies selling them.

Well, this is a complex question with a lot of variables to consider in answering it. Shmuel Konfoty, the chief technical officer of the Israeli company that has developed CogniSafe, says that PitBoss reads game logic and processes within the game that will in real time determine if any cheating is going on: any cheating meaning everything from hole-card reading to bot-playing to collusion. Theoretically, this is true. If cheating is uncovered in real time instead of after the fact, which in the big online poker cheating scams has been way after the fact, then online poker rooms would be able to act fast, catch the cheats, freeze their accounts and ban them from the sites.

But this is a BIG “if.” The problem with all this online poker anti-cheat software is that it is usually fundamentally sound but still vulnerable to being manipulated or bypassed by skilled cheat-hackers who do just that to the online poker rooms’ software, which allows them to cheat on the sites without the sites’ security catching on to it. The first thing to know is that if insiders are engaged in the cheating, then NO anti-cheating software the sites are using is going to protect you, the player, from being victimized. I don’t care what CogniSafe or anyone else says to try and dispute that fact. But, however, if the sites themselves are clean and use CogniSafe or other anti-cheat programs to protect against online poker cheats operating from the outside, then these programs may indeed be affective.

So my conclusion is to experiment but beware. Let’s give CogniSafe a chance to show its value. I suggest that online poker rooms experiment with it, and also those of you players who track hand- and player-histories to closely follow what goes on with the sites claiming to use anti-cheat software programs. In the end, the numbers you derive along with patterns of irregularity will tell us if CogniSafe is really Safe or just another Cog in the online poker revolving-door cheating machine.

Live Dealers Online To Stamp Out Cheating? What Do You Think?

With growing concern over transparency at online casinos, some observers of the Internet gambling industry think live dealing may become the craze. Lack of trust in random card generators is causing more and more online gambling operators to consider placating uneasy players by instituting games with live dealers.

Live dealing online casinos means players participate in gaming at a physical casino via computer and Internet. Video footage provides game progression, and a graphical interface permits online patronage.

Complaints have become public about cheating and other issues since the scandals last year at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. Software corruption became a major worry of online casino patrons after it was revealed as the method for the poker room cheating.

Internet gambling patron polls have shown trust and honesty issues dominate the concerns of players. Live dealing is designed to remove uncertainties regarding both software irregularities and skepticism over random number generators.

Live dealing has already expanded into many markets in Asia and Europe. Companies offering live dealer products insist past problems with technology have been solved. Applications now exist for most casino table games to be played with a live dealer, including blackjack, roulette, baccarat, and poker variants.

Players familiar with live dealing say the games not only lower their worries about glitches and improbabilities, but often also provide a more realistic casino experience. While the US has not yet seen much in the way of availability for live dealer gaming, it can be expected that this new wrinkle may soon be the hot thing in online gambling.

There´s A Bigger Casino and Poker Cheat Than Me Out There!

Yes, it’s true! There is an even bigger casino cheat out there than me. And you’d probably never guess who it is, so I’ll just come out and tell you his name: It’s Bernard Madoff. Sound familiar? Of course it does—but you know him only as the world’s biggest-ever Ponzi-Scheme swindler, not as the world’s biggest casino cheat, a title I once proudly held. So then, how did Bernard Madoff make his mark as the world’s biggest casino cheat and scam artist? Was he once a member of my casino cheat team, or of Joe Classon’s infamous Classon Pastposting Team? Hardly. Neither Joe classon nor I have even met the guy, nor had we heard of him before last December when the news of his $50 billion Wall Street financial scam broke.

No, Madoff has earned the title of the world’s greatest casino cheat the easy way: without ever having had to walk inside a casino. I’m not saying that he never has walked into a casino. I imagine he has, but I don’t know for sure. But what I do know is that among the names on the huge list of Madoff’s financial victims are those of people who own lots of stock in some of the world’s biggest casino megaresorts. Figuring that the losses of these casino owners to Madoff’s superscam dwarf the amount I cheated them out of over the years makes Madoff the best casino cheat ever! I guess if we go by that measure, he would also be the world’s number-one cheat at a lot of other things too.

But before I leave this humorous blog entry, let me ask you this. Have you taken a good look at this guy? At his face? Have you noticed that beak and hawk-like eyes he’s got? Have you also heard people’s accounts of how emotionless he was in federal court when he copped out his plea?

Tell me that this guy hasn’t got ice running through his veins!

I guess what I’m saying is that I would have loved to have Madoff cheating the casinos with my team. Why? Simply put: with a pair of cajones like he’s got, imagine what a fearless ice-blooded character like that would have done to the casinos at the tables!

World Series of Poker (WSOP) Rule Changes For 2009 Released!

But will the new rules stop the poker cheats and colluders? Personally, I don´t think so. The organizing committee needs to take a closer look at the cheat potential concerning the WSOP. Read on:

A new version of the World Series of Poker Tournament Rules was released earlier this week by Harrah's as part of the continuing preparation for the 2009 World Series of Poker. Among the notable additions and changes to the 97 rules are a brand new "Code of Player Conduct," a revision on the rule regarding the use of profane language at the table, and an extension of the restrictions on sponsor logos at televised feature and final tables. Several noteworthy clarifications have also been made to a host of other rules.

First and foremost of the additions to the 17-page rule booklet is a brand new Rule 30, "Code of Player Conduct for the 2009 WSOP". Rule 30(A) requires players to adhere "to the

spirit and the letter" of the Tournament Rules and not engage in any illegal or unethical actions, cheating or collusion. The rule goes on to define and give examples of cheating and collusion.

Rule 30(B) codifies the continued expansion of the "civility and courtesy" that are expected at the World Series of Poker. These concepts were first broached in 2008 with the inclusion of Rule 36 (now Rule 37), the so-called "Hevad Khan Rule" that prohibited excessive celebration.

Violations of the Code of Player Conduct will result in a penalty (Rule 30(C)), and any player that acts in a manner that could potentially compromise the "competitive integrity" of the WSOP will be subject to sanctions, including any of: forfeiture of chips; forfeiture of prize money; ejection from the tournament; exclusion from future tournaments; exclusion from the property. Those players will also be subject to having their actions publicly disclosed by Harrah's under Rule 30(E).

The 2009 Tournament Rules feature a lengthy revision of the rule on profane language (Rule 36). In 2008, the only profane language that was prohibited was language directed at, or about, another player, dealer or tournament staff member. The final sentence of the rule noted that Harrah's could "impose at any time a zero-tolerance policy for profane language whether directed at another person or not." Harrah's exercised that option in the 2009 rules by enacting a blanket prohibition on "the use of obscene or foul language in any public area of the casino at any time." The 2009 rules gives wide latitude to the tournament staff to assess penalties, noting that "Any player who uses such language or makes a foul, profane, obscene or vulgar statement, or speaks abusively or in an intimidating manner to another player, a dealer or a Tournament staff member, will be penalized."

Player sponsorship, and the placement of sponsor logo on player apparel, has become a hot topic in poker recently. The 2008 WSOP Tournament Rules were extremely comprehensive regarding the types of sponsor logos that players were and were not allowed to wear. Yet in 2009 the sponsorship rules have been expanded in two significant ways. First, the lead-in to Rule 43 prohibits the wearing of "[t]emporary tattoos, adhesive strips for the skin, and 'band-aids' with logos or promotional language." In addition, a new Rule 43(B) has been introduced which specifies that no more than three players at any television Final Table or feature table will be allowed to wear logos of the same sponsor. In the event that more than three players sport logos of the same entity and cannot agree who should remove or cover them, tournament officials will use a high-card procedure to determine who is allowed to wear the logos.

Harrah's has also promised in Rule 52(E) to "maintain a written log of all penalties issued throughout the duration of the WSOP" and has reminded players that "any conduct deemed penalty-worthy could result in a wide range of discipline for a first offense" (Rule 52(F)). Some new penalties in 2009 that may show up in the Rule 52(E) penalty log include: refusing to show a hand and intentionally mucking it after making the last aggressive action on the final round of betting (Rule 78); and leaving the table before acting on a hand (Rule 79). Penalties for the usage of cell phones at the table (Rule 86) remain in place, but require players merely to "step away from their assigned table". In 2008, players were required to be "at least one table length away".

There have been several minor changes and clarifications in the 2009 rules as well. Clock-calling in 2009 will be subject to a waiting period that has been reduced from "no less than 3 minutes" to "no less than 2 minutes" (Rule 49); Rule 58, regarding discussion of live hands, has been clarified to state that players are allowed to speak freely as to the contents of their hands during heads-up play, but only to the extent that the discussion does not lead to collusion; the only food or beverage allowed on the table at any time is a capped bottle of water (Rule 61); Rule 70 sets forth the re-draw procedures for events with 100 or more participants and those with less than 100; and Rule 72 clarifies what constitutes "substantial action" in the event of a misdeal.

Finally, players can expect a few procedural changes to be implemented at the 2009 WSOP. Any event which starts at 5pm will receive a 60-minute break after the fourth level of play (Rule 91); in 2008, that break was only 30 minutes long. Players in re-started events will also get a 60-minute break after the sixth level of play (Rule 92). Events that will not be broadcast on television or over the internet will not be required to play past 3 a.m. on Day 2. In the event of any such 3 a.m. suspension, play will resume at 1 p.m. the following day (Rule 95). Finally, the WSOP has implemented an anti-stalling measure with its new Rule 96. Ten minutes prior to the end of play for the day, a random player will be asked to draw a random card (ace-nine) to determine the number of additional hands (1-9) to be played at each table before play concludes.

For all the rules, go to the WSOP website.

CogniSafe PitBoss Software Shoots Bullet Into Online Poker Cheats!

CogniSafe Announces Availability of PitBoss Online Cheating Solution!

Program offers real time solution to cheating in online games including use of bots

CogniSafe today announced the availability of its PitBoss endpoint solution for cheating online. The program has the ability to prevent cheating through the use of online bots, online advisors, software cheats and even collusion. The Bot protection program within PitBoss has already been successfully deployed for online gaming clients. In addition to protecting online games from cheaters, the system, which monitors games without affecting the player's experience, can provide operators with player data such as playing habits and skill levels.

"We are excited to be able to offer a complete solution to online cheating that works across a large variety of game types," said Shmuel Konforty, Chief Technical Officer at CogniSafe. "Whether gamers are playing card games such as poker, board games such as chess or almost any other form of game, we have a proven solution to any potential cheating scenario."

PitBoss gives online gaming companies the ability to assure customers a safe and fair gaming environment which is vital to new player subscriptions and retention. CogniSafe addresses online cheating detection covering different types, such as:

Online Playing Bots: When Bots play instead of the gamer. Bot types include Collusion Bots and Bonus Bots.
Collusion or Player Associations: When two or more gamers (or one gamer using multiple computers) at the same table, share information about their state (such as the holding cards).
Software cheats: Hacking the game client gaining unfair advantage over other gamers.
Online Advisors: When gamers use probability calculators to boost their performance.
Inside Information (Logic Anomaly): When the gamer has access to information that should be confidential (such as the next card to be dealt).
Cutting the Cord: When a gamer disconnects his Internet connection upon realizing that his cards won't hold up.

Since PitBoss is available as an endpoint solution it can be tailored to fit the needs of each individual customer. The system can also be updated to recognize new forms of cheating.

About CogniSafe, Ltd.

CogniSafe, Ltd. develops next generation anti-cheat and security platforms for online games of all types. Using advanced behavioral analysis of computer processes, game processes and player behavior, CogniSafe is able to detect online cheaters committing inappropriate or illegal actions that are a result of deviation from fair playing procedures or Malware activation. CogniSafe technology also enables operators to track user and trends using an advanced profile engine. For additional product and company information please visit www.cognisafe.com

Last of the $20 Million-International Baccarat Scam Mohecans Pleads Guilty!

The leader and brains of the racketeering enterprise that allegedly cheated seven Indian casinos in California and Canada out of $1 million pleaded guilty Feb. 13 for his role, the FBI said.

Tai Khiem Tran, 47, made the plea in San Diego Federal Court to charges of conspiring to participate in the enterprise known as the Tran Organization, based here and elsewhere, U.S. attorneys said in a press release.

Prosecutors described a sophisticated cheating system that included card tracking technology and software that predicted the order in which cards would appear. Tran and 13 others allegedly bribed casino card dealers and supervisors to perform “false shuffles” during black jack and mini-baccarat games, the press release said.

The organization’s members signaled to the card dealer to create the so-called “slugs” or groups of un-shuffled cards. Members would then bet on the known order of cards as the slug materialized on the table with the aid of the technology. Members repeatedly won thousands of dollars including one win of up to $868,000; though the release did not specify in which casino.

Members of the organizations targeted some of the biggest casinos in southern California Indian country spanning San Diego and Riverside counties including the Agua Caliente, Barona, Pechanga and Sycuan casinos. It also targeted a casino owned by the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians 90 miles northeast of San Francisco and the Casino Rama in Ontario.

According to the FBI, Tran admitted that he participated in the cheats with the co-defendants between August 2002 and June 2005.

Tran’s 2007 indictment charged him and the other 13 with conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise, commit several offenses against the U.S., steal money from Indian casinos and commit money laundering. Tran faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and agreed to pay a judgment of $823,612. Tran’s house in the San Diego area, a 2006 Mercedes Benz and various pieces of jewelry could satisfy that judgment. Tran’s sentencing is scheduled for July 13 in San Diego; he was also charged in Canada.

A second indictment has charged 11 other defendants of conspiring to commit offenses on behalf of the Tran Organization.

To date, 26 defendants, including Tran, have pleaded guilty to charges relating to casino cheating scams in approximately 24 Indian casinos during the course of their activity.

A multi-agency effort is still working on the case, including the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division.

Mike Caro's Anti-Poker Cheating Crusade

In 1984 Mike founded his Cheater Monitoring Service, with an office at the Bicycle Casino near Los Angeles. He told me that players started slipping out of the woodwork, confessing, confidentially, that they had been guilty of cheating, but were mending their ways, hoping to be allowed to play in the casino. Because of these experiences, and many others, Mike has acquired insight into the cheating world. One of my favorite Mike Caro quotes: “Barring or arresting cheaters isn’t enough. They should be boiled and eaten.”

Better methods. He says that poker today is more honest than in the past. But cheating has become more sophisticated technologically. I’ve been told that online cheaters can even purchase software that makes deceit easier. Fortunately, online sites are perfecting better methods to detect collusion. Mike sometimes helps with that.

At the Second Annual World Poker Conference Mike stood before the audience and declared how serious an issue cheating was, how it had gained momentum through poker partnerships, and how it was giving the poker world a bad name at the time. Later, he was involved in helping Planet Poker, the first real-money online poker site, pioneer collusion monitoring. I’m sure the industry, as a whole, has continued to build on those early efforts.

Mike is still working behind the scenes and is considering joining a group of programmers to make collusion monitoring a fact of life in the online poker community. Over the years, this has become a passion of Mike’s. Beyond the obvious ethical benefits, he finds this type of programming challenging and intellectually rewarding.

Cheating at poker is worse than robbing a bank, Mike has stated (maybe a bit exaggerated here!). At least, when a bank robbery occurs you have the bandit standing before you in all his treachery. Not so with poker. You sit down with the assumption that everyone is agreeing to play honestly.

Mike believes, and I agree, that cheating at poker, including partnerships, should carry a hefty punishment with prison times of five or more years—mandatory! What do you think?

More Online Poker Cheat Scams Coming Because of World Economic Crisis?

Will the current worldwide financial crisis bring out more online poker scams from the woodwork? Probably, but that doesn’t mean more of them are going on. To understand what I mean, let’s take a look at what has been happening in the financial-scam world since the global economic fiasco took hold in late 2008. There were many bank scams and frauds that have come to light since then, but to date three gigantic ones have dominated the news, all of them involving billions of dollars. The first that hit was the Bernard Madoff investment pyramid scheme, which among its victims bagged a few online-poker-pioneer billionaires, for whom I don’t feel very sorry for as most of these people scammed their way to their own riches way before the advent of online poker. Then there were the UBS bank scam and the Allen Stanford investment scam, both of which surfaced only last week. The Stanford scam may wipe out the majority of Antigua’s finances before it’s all said and done.

But this does not mean that suddenly huge bank and investment scams are happening in an abundance we have never seen before. All it does mean is that more financial scams are being exposed in these very difficult times when people across the world need their money and decide to withdraw their funds from various investment accounts, and increasingly are finding that there’s little or no money in the accounts.

The same thing is bound to happen in online poker, which is a major billion-dollar industry. The UltimateBet scam notwithstanding, we will probably see more big online poker scams come to light as the financial crunch continues because online poker players, just like people in the financial world, will be watching their money closer and at times calling in their funds from their online poker accounts.

But remember, don’t panic when you hear about the next online poker scam or the next one after that. It won’t be an indicator of a new rush of online poker scams but rather the surfacing of ones that had been going on awhile, most likely before the financial crisis hit.