UK Gambling Commission Review Peer-To-Peer Poker
The UK Gambling Commission has recently announced plans to review the regulations placed on peer-to-peer online poker – whereby players play against each other rather than playing the operator.
On the 8th October the authority released a statement outlining its intention to investigate whether the use of automated poker robots and third party software could trigger increased levels of collusion and cheating in online poker. They’ve announced that “regulations governing online poker where players play against each other — as opposed to playing the operator — are being reviewed”. The first stage of the review will see the UKGC request information from those poker websites licensed to operate in the UK, regarding their views on the issue of peer-to-peer poker and “the impact of game integrity issues overall”.
The UKGC has stated that any information gathered during this stage of the review will be used to assess whether the current controls in Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (RTS) are adequate in ensuring that online poker is crime-free and fair for all players. It will also be used to help shape any future consultations on remote technical standards.
There have been recent moves by popular poker sites such as PokerStars and Party Poker to tighten their security measures regarding the use of third party software. Online poker sites have made clear their intention to provide a fair and level playing field for customers and ensure an uncorrupted environment for all poker players to enjoy the game.
The issue of automated poker robots being implemented at some of the most popular online poker sites was raised several months ago when PokerStars revealed that they’d conducted an investigation over a number of players from Russia and Kazakhstan allegedly using artificial intelligence accumulate winnings for over a million dollars while playing in mid-stakes pot-limit Omaha games.
