BY TOM SOMACH

The owner of online poker room Absolute Poker (www.absolutepoker.com) has responded to allegations that cheating has occurred in the room.

And, if the cheating can be definitively confirmed, the room says it will reimburse anyone who was ripped off.

Specifically, it has been alleged that at least one player, likely with the help of a confederate and special computer software, was able to see the hole cards of opponents during play and used this advantage to rack up huge monetary gains, reportedly as much as $700,000.

The cheating player has variously been described in various media as either a current or former executive or employee with Absolute Poker.

A statement issued Sunday by Joe Norton, owner of Tokwiro Enterprises ENGR, which owns Absolute Poker, said, in part:

“As many of our players are aware, there has been a security breach in our system that allowed unlawful access to player information that resulted in unfair play. I am writing to you today to let you know what we know so far, in order to set the record straight, and to assure you of Absolute Poker’s commitment to player security…At this point, our intention is to let you know all we can disclose and to assure you of our continued efforts to keep you informed as best we can as the investigations continue.

“We deeply regret this situation has occurred. A breach in security in online poker is serious and of great concern to players and the industry worldwide, and this particular situation has been the subject of debate within the poker player community and in the media, giving rise to the creation of several websites and hundreds and hundreds of comments, opinions, and theories of what occurred, some of which are accurate, and some that are not…

“I have not been happy that during the initial stage of our investigation, Absolute Poker has not been more forthcoming in providing a timely or comprehensive explanation on this matter, giving rise to anger, suspicion, and concern on the part of our valued customers. I hope that our customers can appreciate that this remains an incredibly complex and sensitive issue, and I want to give you my strongest possible assurance that we will be as forthcoming as possible on how this breach occurred and what we are doing to remedy the situation.

“Absolute Poker was notified by a customer that a possible cheating incident occurred during a recent tournament, and in response, forwarded players’ hand logs. This disclosure of the hand logs prompted our customers to determine that a more serious security breach had occurred. We immediately launched an internal investigation and also requested a formal audit by Gaming Associates, an acknowledged worldwide expert in audits, interactive gaming tests and information security.

“Based upon our preliminary findings, it appears that the integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking, trusted consultant employed by Absolute Poker, whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems. As has been speculated in several online forums, this consultant devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge. As this consultant was aware of the details of our fraud detection process, the likelihood that the scheme would be uncovered through our normal procedures was minimized.

“We consider this security breach to be a horrendous and inexcusable offense. We will pay for all losses suffered by the affected players as soon as our audit is finished and the amounts are determined. Although we are in the process of attempting to recover all the winnings of this consultant, any unrecovered losses of affected players will be paid by Absolute Poker so that all affected persons will be made whole. We are still investigating whether the consultant was acting alone or in concert with others, and it appears at this time that all account holders are innocent of collusion and were unaware of any wrongdoing by the consultant, who was immediately terminated.

“We continue to investigate this matter aggressively, and all of these preliminary findings are subject to the audits currently underway. We have recently uncovered additional accounts used by the consultant that have not been publicly reported. So as to not compromise the investigation, we are not releasing the names of these additional accounts at this time, and will contact these affected customers individually. The specific allegations of unlawfulactivity are being investigated both by Absolute Poker and by the authorized authorities, including the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. We will continue to actively cooperate with these authorities in full compliance with the Regulations Concerning Interactive Gaming. In addition to our own investigation and the audit by Gaming Associates, we have also submitted to an audit by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

“Please be assured that we have corrected the problem that allowed the system to be unfairly manipulated. We are working furiously to increase the safeguards within our systems. While we are satisfied that our systems are secured, we realize that our security systems must be continuously monitored and enhanced. Without question, this incident has been unfortunate for all concerned, and we will emerge as a stronger company. I realize it will take some time and much more information for Absolute Poker to re-earn the trust and confidence of our customers who are in doubt of our commitment to the highest levels of security, privacy and integrity. As we move to address and correct this situation, our valued customers have played a vital role in uncovering this scheme through various online forums and have become an active part of the solution.”

Norton is also the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake.

Absolute Poker is licensed by and operated from the Indian tribe’s reservation, near Montreal, Canada.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)