A poker player has written a letter to New Jersey gaming officials to warn them that online gaming, in particular poker, is extremely vulnerable to money laundering and collusion. That player in question has offered to show the state’s gaming officials how it is done as long as he receives immunity from prosecution.
In a press release issued this morning, poker player Bill Byers states that he has sent a letter to the Director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, David Rebuck, which warns of the “vulnerabilities” of online poker. In that letter, Byers writes, “New Jersey poker websites are marketing to people who have likely never played poker. They’re doing this to fill the low stakes ‘fish pond.’ The marketing campaigns are luring novices to be caught, gutted and skinned by more experienced players and cheaters who could use…techniques we can demonstrate for money laundering.”
“At the same time your office, the Division of Gaming Enforcement, says all is well,” Byers continues. “This is not true.”
Teaming with Jim Thackston, a software engineer who has worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and is named prominently in a letter sent earlier this month by that group to Congress regarding online poker, Byers states, “I know the game and no anti-collusion system can possibly detect the manipulation, if it is done carefully by people who know what they’re doing.” Citing a letter written by Thackston in November 2013 that points out “the problems posed by online poker in the state of New Jersey,” Byers says that New Jersey officials have yet to respond to the Thackston letter.
Byers entered into a demonstration with Thackston in 2012 in Washington, D. C. and at Mississippi State University to show how sophisticated cheaters could manipulate the system. “In those demonstrations,” Byers writes, “I played in games with three other poker accounts played by two other people. In both demonstrations, two computers were sitting side-by-side in either Washington or Starkville…I was in Apollo Beach, Florida, and another person played the two poker accounts on the DC/MS machines from a location in Southwest Florida using specially employed remote access technology.”
In writing the letter to Rebuck, Byers is proposing that he and Thackston can demonstrate for New Jersey officials how easy it is to manipulate online poker games. Part of the demonstration, however, lies in the factor that everyone involved in the demonstration is provided full immunity from prosecution by New Jersey authorities and any money won would be returned to the state of New Jersey. “This test will provide the state of New Jersey a true stress-test of its internet gambling anti-money laundering and anti-collusion countermeasures.”
Byers is proposing that his team would enter into one of the several New Jersey online poker sites without the knowledge of New Jersey officials until his team is set to play, at which point the DGE would be informed they are in operation by a third party. He challenges the New Jersey DGE to figure out, within 30 days, to identify his co-conspirators, the “money mules” they have hired and the physical identity and location of a player who will be out of state. “This will be a worthwhile pursuit,” Byers writes, “since it will prove or disprove both our claims and yours.”
Byers is a retired players (according to the Hendon Mob database, he has slightly more than $26,000 in career earnings but hasn’t cashed in a tournament since 2004), but it is Thackston who seems to have the abilities to demonstrate Byers’ claims. Thackston operates a website, undetectablelaundering.com, which has been used by many organizations regarding the issue of online poker website security. Alongside such issues as the ongoing Edward Snowdon affair are a litany of pieces that seem to be all anti-online gaming.
At this time, there has been no response from New Jersey gaming officials regarding Byers’ letter or whether they will take him up on his proposition. Poker News Daily will continue to monitor the situation and update as necessary.
UPDATE: Late this afternoon Lisa Spengler, a spokesperson for the Division of Gaming Enforcement, responded to Poker News Daily. “Security plans and technology have been put in place by the licensed operators to detect such threats, and we expect users and operators of any Internet operating system to exercise vigilance,” Spengler said. “In addition, the State has protocols in place and is prepared to aggressively investigate any breaches of security involving New Jersey’s online gaming sites.”