The cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker made national news yesterday with an article in the Washington Post and a segment on CBS’ 60 Minutes. There was a lot of doom and gloom predictions about what this coverage would look like, but in the end I thought both pieces were reasonably fair and comprehensive, though not without their flaws.
Needless to say, the Post story was better than the 60 Minutes segment. Authored by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Ira Rosen, it explored the cheating and the means by which it was discovered in considerable detail. Best of all, it kept the focus on UB and AP rather than painting all internet poker sites with the same broad brush. The overall theme of the story was that cheating occurred and that, although the perpetrators were not substantially punished, the players were able to uncover it and force restitution to be paid.
The 60 Minutes story was a bit more sensational, with references to the Wild West and cards “tumbling out of the computer”. It was also a bit more entertaining. After he declined to return their phone calls, they took several pretty funny shots UB cheater and former WSOP world champion Russ Hamilton, who won his “considerable weight in silver” along with the 1994 title.
The only thing that struck me as truly irresponsible were the multiple references to online poker being “illegal”. Technically speaking, certain financial transactions between banks and online poker sites are illegal, but the actual playing is not. It’s pretty bad for a highly respected news program to misstate a verifiable fact like that, particularly given that many people from 2+2 called and e-mailed producers over the weekend to point out the error before the show went to air.
Also troubling were the ominous closing comments of Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles about how cheating was probably going on undetected at other sites. He’s already said that he regrets this comment, and while I don’t think the overall message that cheating is possible and players should be cautious is a bad one to send, Witteles and 60 Minutes didn’t communicate it in the most responsible way. There’s no reason to speculate with no evidence about what is actually happening at other sites, only to speak in broad terms about what has happened, what could happen, and most importantly (and largely lacking from the coverage) what can be done to prevent it in the future.
It would have been nice to hear about Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to regulate and tax internet poker. And if they really wanted to discuss the legality of playing poker online, they should have spoken to prominent legal scholars like Charles Nesson and I. Nelson Rose.
Still, on the whole they largely confined their comments to UB and AP, identified the most prominent perpetrator, embarrassed the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, and portrayed the complicated details of the situation in a way that should make sense to the general public. I continue to be of the opinion that if we want greater legitimacy, we in the poker community must be willing to air our dirty laundry.
I also found irritating the reference to online poker being illegal. At the time, I wondered if they didn’t know any better, of if they just didn’t care.