Kahnawake Gaming Commission

Kahnawake Gaming Commission found Hamilton largely responsible for cheating players on Ultimate Bet

Russ Hamilton is the 1994 World Series of Poker main event champion. He defeated Hugh Vincent in heads-up play and won $1 million in first-prize money, as well as his body weight in silver. Following his World Series win, Hamilton served as a consultant for Ultimate Bet. In 2008, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission found Hamilton largely responsible for cheating players on Ultimate Bet out of $6.1 million through software that allowed access to opponent’s hole cards. KGC released the initial findings of an audit conducted on UB in regards to the cheating allegations that took place between May 2004 and January 2008. The incident marked the second time in less than a year that a Tokwiro property has had to investigate unfair play at one of its poker rooms. Earlier in the year the KGC fined Tokwiro’s Absolute Poker $500,000 after it was revealed players with “superuser” accounts that could see hole cards of opponents had cheated.

Now the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) confirmed through the release of an 11-page document that cheating occurred at online poker room UltimateBet and that Russ Hamilton did not act alone.

In the release, the KGC stated that Hamilton was “the individual who ultimately bears responsibility” for that cheating and that he had 31 accomplices, who were not named in the report. But the 117 usernames used in the cheating were listed in the report.

The KGC added that it has “provided extensive information to law enforcement authorities, including the names of 31 individuals who were associated, to varying degrees, with Russell Hamilton, the cheating accounts and/or transactions related to the cheating accounts.”

The 11-page document also reported that Tokwiro, the owner of UltimateBet, refunded more than $22 million to players affected by the cheating and also paid $1.5 million in fines. It also revealed that there were 23 accounts and 117 usernames used in the cheating and the majority of the money was paid through player-to-player transfers on UB.

“Despite the unfortunate circumstances that resulted in this cheating, we are satisfied that the actions taken by the (KGC) provided an equitable result for affected players – our first priority,” KGC Chairman Dean Montour said in a press release. “We remain optimistic that this experience and the lessons learned from it will result in a higher standard of gaming regulation for companies licensed and regulated within the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and elsewhere.”

HERE you can find the complete text of the 11-page report that was released by the KGC. The 117 usernames are listed on page 7 of the report.

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