Vegas loves gossip and rumors. What top start will be hired, which will be fired, what’s going on with casino X or Y… We love it.
When Poker Stars, the online gaming site (along with the partner site, Full Tilt Poker) got pulled earlier this year for violation of the online gaming rules, the rumors flew. The sites were seized by the US Justice Department because you can’t play with real money in the US on the Internet.
Now that two of the principles, Howard Lederer and Christopher Ferguson (along with eight other board memebers) have been accused of running a Ponzi scheme, some of the conspiracy buffs are feeling smug. If you don’t recognize the names above, you probably don’t follow poker — these are a couple of the rock stars in the poker tournament world.
Years ago, when Poker Stars was getting up and rolling, there were questions about, “How do I know the games are fair?” It’s just too easy to cheat when all the cards are virtual. So now, the sites are accused of blatantly stealing money from player’s accounts outright. They’d then use money from new players to make up the difference. Hence the label, “Ponzi Scheme.”
If you go to the sites now, you’ll see poker is still on offer. But no betting of real money is allowed. It’s all “just for fun.” Without the real money element though, it’s doubtful there’s much fun to be had.
So was it a scam from the start? There’s no way to really know. But all online gaming suffers from the same suspicion about whether cards, bets or even the players are “real” of faked up to display on a computer screen. Hopefully, they’ll learn the lesson that Vegas did — if you ensure an honest game and take your normal percentage, in the long run your casino will be better off. Cheating will pay in the short term, but as soon as the word gets out (and it will) the business dies.
