I can't say I was one bit surprised by the news about the cheating in online
poker. Involved were two areas of gambling that are almost totally
unregulated:
1. Online gambling - there is absolutely no one regulating this, making sure
you can get your money, making sure there is no cheating or badly devised
games, etc.
2. Indian Tribal Gambling - regulation falls to the tribes themselves, who
often have little knowledge of gambling, and are likely to pass their
gambling concessions on to another company, that may or may not be legitimate.
I've thought (and said) for a long time that both 1 & 2 venues were ripe
for exploitation by organized crime and/or cheaters and/or old fashioned bad
management or poorly designed computer programs/games.
It won't surprise me a bit to hear that organized crime is running some
gambling in either or both venues.
So my advice to anyone who wants to gamble - avoid venues 1 & 2 and only
play where gambling is regulated by a state or government and can be assumed to
most likely be legitimate.
But if you do gamble in either 1 or 2 - you are taking your chances of being
cheated, and that is up to you. I know thousands of people play online
poker, and many claim to be winners (or even making a living at it) - if you are
winning, good for you. But if one of these online companies ends up not
paying you your money, or massive cheating is occurring, well - you have pretty
much no recourse. Use some common sense!
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