Due to ongoing litigation involving software manufacturer Excapsa, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), Ultimate Bet’s regulatory agency, may give the online poker site an extension on its mandates that were set forth on September 29th. Frank Catania, who leads the independent investigation on the matter, confirmed the possible extension to Poker News Daily. Tokwiro, the current owners of Ultimate Bet, have asked the KGC for a hearing to determine a new timeline.
The original KGC mandate read that by November 3rd, which was yesterday, Ultimate Bet shall “commence refunding all players accounts found to have been adversely affected by the cheating of individuals under the control and supervision of the licensee.” It was estimated that Ultimate Bet had paid out over $6 million as of September 29th. About 10 days before the KGC’s directive came was released, MSNBC printed a story which stated that Excapsa was undergoing “voluntary dismemberment” of its assets.
According to Catania, the liquidation is still ongoing. He claims that Excapsa is ultimately responsible for returning money to players who were adversely affected by the cheating scandal at the online poker room. Catania told Poker News Daily, “We didn’t know in the beginning that we were going to have this problem. Excapsa is Ultimate Bet’s previous owner. Most of this occurred under the management of Excapsa, so we’re trying to work it out so people can get their money back.”
Poker News Daily has also confirmed that Tokwiro has won a lawsuit against Excapsa, which may also have been holding up the disbursement of funds to players. Although the amount awarded to Tokwiro has not been made public, officials of Absolute Poker, which is also owned by Tokwiro, expect player refunds to begin soon. The judgment was handed down on Monday.
Despite the setback, Catania maintains that the KGC’s overarching objective is to reimburse players for their losses: “The Commission’s number one goal is to make sure that everybody who may have lost money will get it back. We might have disagreed on how to handle it, but the players remain our top priority.” The KGC hit Ultimate Bet with a $1.5 million fine for the cheating scandal itself. No update was available as to whether this sum of money has been paid. On the overall delay, Catania noted, “It’s better to proceed slowly and accurately than to screw up down the line.”
UB also had until yesterday to “remove any and all persons deemed as ‘unsuitable’ by the KGC from all involvement with the company, which shall include all levels of ownership, management, and operation.” Since that mandate was handed down on September 29th, the online poker room has signed a bevy of players to serve as members of its “Star Players” team. They include blackjack personality “Hollywood” Dave Stann (announced on October 16th) and online poker pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy (announced on October 15th).
Other members of its Star Players team include “Best Damn Poker Show” Season I winner Tracy Scala and the last woman standing in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, Tiffany Michelle. The team is anchored by online poker legend Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy and one of the top online players in the world, James “P0KERPR033” Campbell.
In its findings, the KGC identified Russ Hamilton as the “main person responsible” for the cheating scandal. Hamilton and company exploited an antiquated auditing tool that allowed them to see the hole cards of other players at the table. The cheating began in May of 2004 and lasted until January, 2008. One of the accounts involved in the scandal, Sleeplesss, was traced back to a home at 1725 Glenview Drive in Las Vegas owned by Hamilton. Other accounts involved in the wrongdoings were NioNio, NoPaddles, nvtease, flatbroke33, ilike2win, UtakeIt2, FlipFlop2, erick456, WhackMe44, RockStarLA, stoned2nite, monizzle, FireNTexas, HeadKase01, LetsPatttty, NYMobser, and WhoWhereWhen.
