Full Tilt Poker Being Sued over Bots

As poker evolves into an increasingly digital and anonymous game, one of the unfortunate side-effects is cheating. Since online poker is just software running on your computer, unscrupulous people are able to create programs — called bots — on top of your online poker client that plays their hands automatically based on perfect odds and probability giving them the potential to be consistent, but not exceptional, winners.

To ensure the integrity of their games, online poker sites, such as Full Tilt Poker, actively scan for bots using undisclosed criteria and ban any accounts caught botting. Any funds in the account are also confiscated since using a bot violates most sites’ terms of service. Since there is usually no recourse when bots are discovered, most of the time this is where the story ends. This week, however, two alleged bot users fired back in the form of a lawsuit.

Lary Kennedy and Greg Omotoy filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California against Full Tilt Poker, the members of Team Full Tilt, and TiltWare CEO Ray Bitar for false advertising, libel, slander, unjust enrichment, fraud, and, most chillingly, racketeering. The pair filed suit after Full Tilt Poker accused them of using bots and banned their accounts, confiscating more than $80,000 USD in the process.
Kennedy, who has admitted to playing under both accounts, proclaims her innocence and claims it was a false positive result.

Whether there is truth to the allegations or not, the racketeering claim made by Kennedy and Omotoy has serious implications for Full Tilt Poker. The pair alleges that members of Team Full Tilt, spearheaded by Chris Ferguson and Andy Bloch (both players with computer science backgrounds) created their own bots to act as prop players on the site and increase the amount of rake taken at each table. Kennedy and Omotoy also allege that Team Full Tilt members who play on the site use company revenue, or house money, which draws parallels between Full Tilt Poker and a traditional casino. Full Tilt Poker has long claimed to not be a gambling site.

The two are seeking compensatory and punitive damages based on Full Tilt’s revenues, a process that will require a court audit of the company’s books. The case is expected to be heard early next year.