Absolute Poker has released a statement following the "independent" audit of their insider cheating scandal. The complete text of the release can be found below.
I want to say a couple of things about this entire incident. First, the audit was not independent, as it was done by the same folks who run the Absolute servers and "sanction" the Absolute site.
Absolute employees tried to cover up the cheating incident they knew had occurred. The evidence stands uncontroverted that the first reaction of everyone at Absolute was to deny and cover-up.
Documents and records that would verify the acts of cheating and identify the employees who cheated were destroyed. The argument that this was inadvertent is not to be believed.
There has been no meaningful punishment to Absolute, they are paying a half a million dollar fine, which comes out of one corporation account and goes into another. They do promise not to do it again, where have we heard this before? They are also going through a lot of smoke and mirror public relations effort to give the appearance of genuine concern.
Too little, too late and just too many lame excuses.
Will this happen again in the future at some big online poker site? Yes, it will. There are hackers, cheats and crooks out there looking for security holes in the cyber-systems.
What everyone should look for is how the next site responds to a security breech. Will they deny and attempt a cover-up like Absolute Poker did or will they deal with the issue openly and honestly. The measure of security is trust and trust is earned. Absolute Poker lost my trust and all this corporate double-speak will not gain it back.
My last question is: Why are there still players on Absolute Poker?
[Text of Absolute statement follows the page break.]
Contact: Anna Molley
Vice President, Public and Community Relations
press@absolutepoker.com
ABSOLUTE POKER RESPONDS TO KGC FINDINGS
(JANUARY 11, 2008) --- Absolute Poker (AP) issued the following statement today in response to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission’s (KGC) release of its report “In the Matter of Absolute Poker Investigation Regarding Complaints of Cheating.”
“When Absolute Poker notified the KGC of the security breach in our system, we had every expectation that the Commission would undertake a comprehensive and fair investigation. After reviewing the published report, we recognize the completeness and accuracy of the KGC conclusions, and we accept without reservation the KGC’s findings and sanctions. Most importantly, we are pleased, after these many months, that Absolute Poker can finally put behind it a most distressing and regrettable experience for the Company, its employees, and its customers.
“The KGC points out that ‘AP has taken the appropriate actions to address the vulnerability in its systems…and to prevent its systems from being compromised again…’ AP has appointed a team of both internal and external members to improve controls and install safeguards, and accepts the audit findings as an opportunity to improve our internal practices and guarantee the safest playing environment in the industry.
“We are pleased that the KGC’s findings of fact point out that ‘there is no evidence to indicate that the impugned activities were initiated or sanctioned by AP…or were intended to benefit AP, as a corporate entity.’ The report also states that ‘AP made expeditious efforts to appropriately reimburse all players…with interest’ who were affected by the cheating.
“The Company also regrets the inadvertent deletion of certain gaming logs and records during the course of the investigation, although AP is relieved that these deletions did not, according to the KGC, ‘prevent the Commission from obtaining sufficient information…’
“Having experienced first-hand the devastating impact of a security breach, we fully appreciate the importance of trust and security for AP itself and the broader industry. A secure site goes to the heart of player confidence, and we are more committed than ever to ensuring that confidence. To that end, we have taken it upon ourselves to convene on January 18, 2008 the first of a series of ‘poker security summits’. AP will invite respected and independent members of the poker community to focus on innovative and cutting-edge ways to further improve AP’s security and enhance its transparency.
“As AP has repeatedly stated in the past, we regret the damage done to our players and to our own reputation by this incident. We acknowledge that the Company did not act with sufficient speed to uncover the fraud; however, once we were convinced of the veracity of the allegations, we moved quickly to inform the KGC and to reimburse affected players. While AP is paying a severe penalty for the fraud perpetrated upon the Company and its customers, we are gratified that we can now close the book on this sordid affair and return our full focus to providing the safest, most secure, and most eenjoyable poker playing experience in the industry.”
