PlumGaming withholding payments while inquiring into supposed 'bot' play.

[evoid]

I received this from PlumGaming on Sept. 26 :

Dear Player

Sadly the Plum Gaming casino has been subjected to some unscrupulous play by what we believe to be a small number of players.

It has come to our attention that a number of casino bots have been available for some time which not only enable enhanced play on such games as blackjack and jacks or better video poker, but their continued usage, if allowed, could well affect fairness to other, bona fide players.

It has always been made quite clear in our terms and conditions that any enhanced play by external software will not be tolerated on the Plum Gaming site and we now have to undertake an audit over the past few months of all players, not only those whose play is glaringly suspicious.

To that end it has become necessary to check all the hands played by any player who has used primarily the Jacks or Better video poker game within the casino. If you are awaiting a payout having played this game it may take a little longer than usual but please understand that to ensure our ethos of 'fair play for all' we have to make the checks. Unfortunately, as ever, it is a case of the few making problems for the many.

We have contacted a number of casino forums including Casinomeister and the Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta, who are our regulators, with a copy of this email and a detailed indication of our preliminary findings.

We would like to assure you that in the event you have been playing fairly and with no external software enhancements you should have nothing to worry about, your funds are safe and any outstanding withdrawal requests will be processed as soon as possible.

If you have any queries about this email please contact us at info@plumgaming.com.

Yours sincerely

As a player affected by the payout delay, I have already emailed the casino stating that, although I played some JoB videopoker (I played primarily Texas Hold'em Pro), I did so without the use of a bot or any form of software assistance.
The problem is that even though they say players who played fairly should no worry, I cannot help worrying. For instance, I ask myself if this isn't just an excuse to delay/deny payouts. I also ask myself what method they will use to determine who, if anyone, has been using a bot. I remember that one of the high points of the 'pirate' case came when RTG people revealed that
their software cannot track mouse movements. If this is also true of the NetEntertainment software, that leaves as possible telltales : time intervals between clicks (a bot would presumably click at more regular time intervals than a human) and (that's where it gets scary) perfect strategy. It strikes me that these 'bot indicators' are all at least somewhat problematic which is why I believe this whole 'witholding payments during our bot inquiry' thing to be problematic itself.

[winbig]

This is ridiculous. For them to assume that a bot will simply play in a patternable fashion just shows that they don't know wtf they're talking about. IF I were to program a bot for the sole purpose of playing casino games for cash, I would certainly program it so that EVERY step is 100% random, including times between clicks. Hell, it might even be worthwhile to throw in a random "double" every now and then for good measure as well as a 'trip to the bathroom' break. Therefore, there would be NO trace that would leave them to believe it wasn't a human playing the game.

[vinylweatherman]

I received this from PlumGaming on Sept. 26 :


As a player affected by the payout delay, I have already emailed the casino stating that, although I played some JoB videopoker (I played primarily Texas Hold'em Pro), I did so without the use of a bot or any form of software assistance.
The problem is that even though they say players who played fairly should no worry, I cannot help worrying. For instance, I ask myself if this isn't just an excuse to delay/deny payouts. I also ask myself what method they will use to determine who, if anyone, has been using a bot. I remember that one of the high points of the 'pirate' case came when RTG people revealed that
their software cannot track mouse movements. If this is also true of the NetEntertainment software, that leaves as possible telltales : time intervals between clicks (a bot would presumably click at more regular time intervals than a human) and (that's where it gets scary) perfect strategy. It strikes me that these 'bot indicators' are all at least somewhat problematic which is why I believe this whole 'witholding payments during our bot inquiry' thing to be problematic itself.

VERY scary indeed! It seems they are using this as a reason for a GLOBAL suspension of payments, even though only a few players are thought to be using bots. This is a CASINO, not a POKER site, so there can be NO EFFECT on OTHER PLAYERS unless they have some multi-player games. I do not believe that Jacks or Better is played against another player, and that ONLY leaves the possibility of bot play on a multi-player Blackjack table.

Perfect strategy alone is NOT EVIDENCE of bot play, it can indicate an experienced player who has played the game for a LONG time, OR simply someone who has printed out a strategy table from somewhere, and is using it.

IF they are looking at hand histories as they state, the ONLY indicator they can be looking for is sustained perfect play over a prolonged period, with no "hand stretching" or "piss breaks" interrupting the regular clicking of the controls.
Where the games have a natural house edge, bot play will only be an advantage to THE CASINO, as players will play more, and thus stand to LOSE MORE over the long term, even though perfect play reduces the RATE PER $ of that loss.

Perhaps the casino are now going to use this inquiry as a means to bring about claims of "bonus abuse" against players who used bonuses, and played a bit of Blackjack or VP.

They may never be able to PROVE bot use, yet will seek to confiscate money based on what will probably be a "secret" set of criteria used to determine whether bots were used or not.

[RobWin]

I received this from PlumGaming on Sept. 26 :


As a player affected by the payout delay, I have already emailed the casino stating that, although I played some JoB videopoker (I played primarily Texas Hold'em Pro), I did so without the use of a bot or any form of software assistance.
The problem is that even though they say players who played fairly should no worry, I cannot help worrying. For instance, I ask myself if this isn't just an excuse to delay/deny payouts. I also ask myself what method they will use to determine who, if anyone, has been using a bot. I remember that one of the high points of the 'pirate' case came when RTG people revealed that
their software cannot track mouse movements. If this is also true of the NetEntertainment software, that leaves as possible telltales : time intervals between clicks (a bot would presumably click at more regular time intervals than a human) and (that's where it gets scary) perfect strategy. It strikes me that these 'bot indicators' are all at least somewhat problematic which is why I believe this whole 'witholding payments during our bot inquiry' thing to be problematic itself.

Could be a stall tactic I imagine...have you received your payouts in the past in a timely manner ?? This is the first story I have heard about a casino using the "Bot" trump card in quite some time now...

The 'pirate' case...what a classic that was !!

[evoid]

They may never be able to PROVE bot use, yet will seek to confiscate money based on what will probably be a "secret" set of criteria used to determine whether bots were used or not.

They say they emailed CasinoMeister with their 'preliminary findings'.
Can this be validated?

[winbig]

They say they emailed CasinoMeister with their 'preliminary findings'.
Can this be validated?

If I were you, I'd go ahead and PM Max and/or Bryan to confirm this. It'd be quicker

[sdaddy]

I suppose that PlumGaming has every right to enforce a strict policy against "bot" play. But with all the audits and payment delays required, one wonders whether this is a worthwhile use of their time and resources.

The bottom-line is that bots do not do anything to "enhance" the game by lowering the house advantage.

[winbig]

The bottom-line is that bots do not do anything to "enhance" the game by lowering the house advantage.

Great point. Every single casino online or off, love when players do NOT play 100% perfect strategy. Why else would offline casinos give you free drinks until you're falling off the stool at a VP machine or at a Blackjack table? Or online casinos, for example, playing blackjack...This is EXACTLY why not one casino (other than 3Dice, sorry for the plug, but it's true) WARNS you when you attempt to hit/double any hand 17 or above. Their bread and butter comes from misclicks, and they love every one of them.

[chuchu59]

This is ridiculous. What does the casino mean by saying the use of bots by some will affect bona fide players. Unless the overall payback is fixed at a certain % and the bot users win more resulting in a loss for others, this doesnt make sense at all.

MG has expert mode on both BJ and JOB VP. Wouldnt that be tantamount to having a bot play for you. So why should it not be the same for Netentertainment?

[maxd]

They say they emailed CasinoMeister with their 'preliminary findings'.
Can this be validated?

I received an email on this from them over the weekend, haven't yet had time to look into it in detail.