Mathematical Proof that English Harbour is cheating

[spearmaster]

I have not been hung out to dry. But since everyone has already assumed what my findings would be, and there are more important things happening at present, I simply put everything on the back burner. And to be dead honest I'm not particularly enthused about finishing it up either since no one seems to care about the code.

So I will finish it when I finish it. I'm a bit more concerned about Jackpot Factory at the moment, along with a few other things.

And thanks for asking about me

[kengam]

I guess your time was wasted as I predicted. I don't see how you can say they didn't hang you out to dry. They allowed you to look helpless and come across as the lone defender of a caught cheat. This has done nothing for your credibility and nothing for EH and Odds ON's credibility. The only thing you managed to accomplish was to give them a reason to stay quiet. I am beginning to think that was your intention.

[Pinababy69]

Originally Posted by kengam

They allowed you to look helpless

Spearmaster helpless? Okay.....

[soflat]

Now that it is all done, isn't it time for that poll?

I don't think Spearmaster's credibility was damaged.

I can't say the same for the Wizard of Odds though. I love his site, but he should stop certifying results because it was proven to be a total crock. I know he has the excuse that he would not have viewed the logs from April until May. But his statement indicated that EH and him agreed that earlier logs should be analyzed, and they both failed to follow through on that. I hate to criticize him like this because like I said I love his site (still do) and I respected his certification before this.

[Linus]

Spear - thanks for the work you've put into this case. While I did disagree with you - and do disagree with you - about the reliability & significance of the code they sent you, I do think you're genuinely interested in making things safer for the player.

It's just that English Harbour violated the first commandment of online gaming - it failed to provide a fair game to players. Perhaps they could have regained players' trust. But, from my point of view, they've barely made an effort.


Soflat - yeah, I have to admit, this hasn't reflected well on The Wizard. I will probably always suspect that - had EH not been one of his clients - he would have reacted differently. I suspect English Harbour would have joined the other casinos on his blacklist.

[spearmaster]

It's just that English Harbour violated the first commandment of online gaming - it failed to provide a fair game to players. Perhaps they could have regained players' trust. But, from my point of view, they've barely made an effort.

Naturally, I believe all games should be fair. But I also recognize the fact that shit happens - and as they provided compensation to all affected players quite quickly (unlike a couple of other casinos recently discussed) I don't think any player ended up disadvantaged by the situation.

Effort - well, I'm not going to make a call on that. Some people will say that their second statement was enough, and some people won't. And ultimately they will decide for themselves what they need to do to regain player confidence.

[derelict]

Originally Posted by spearmaster

and as they provided compensation to all affected players quite quickly (unlike a couple of other casinos recently discussed) I don't think any player ended up disadvantaged by the situation.

After some prodding, they've dealt with the issue in April, I agree. But to me one of the most serious issues has still not been addressed at all. That is whether or not the game was fair in the past. To highlight some previous posts:

Originally Posted by Zoozie

I myself about 6 months ago had a very bad loosing streak doubling in VP (but only 1 to 15000 I think, so possible).

Originally Posted by kengam

bad enough to be 95% confident that the results were not within reasonable range. (3.5 standard deviations)

I too would have liked to see more of a response from EH/OddsOn and Mr. Shackleford. Considering the uproar over SEO tactics, I would have expected allegations of unfair gaming to be taken more seriously.

[kengam]

about that poll....can it be put back up?

[thelawnet]

Originally Posted by spearmaster

Naturally, I believe all games should be fair. But I also recognize the fact that shit happens - and as they provided compensation to all affected players quite quickly (unlike a couple of other casinos recently discussed) I don't think any player ended up disadvantaged by the situation.

Effort - well, I'm not going to make a call on that. Some people will say that their second statement was enough, and some people won't. And ultimately they will decide for themselves what they need to do to regain player confidence.

The problem is that it looks like they had faulty code in place, realised, and scheduled a replacement.

This in itself is not so bad, but the fact is that they then went on to lie and say that there was nothing wrong, said that their tests showed it was fair (a false claim). It was only when they realised that the people observing would not be dazzled by their pseudo-mathematical lies that they put out the second statement.

Most people would forgive them the faulty code. Lying about there ever having been a problem, and trying to put in what was clearly a completely fabricated bullshit PR statement as coverup is absolutely not acceptable.

There is no question that their behaviour in lying about the problems with their game (which I can accept may have been accidental) should have them firmly listed as a rogue casino.

It beggars belief that other casinos, from 888.com to Grand Prive, to Jackpot Factory are listed there, whereas a casino who lied about their games being faulty is not.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, this shows that payout reports from the likes of Pricewaterhouse Coopers or Michael Shackelford's auditing service do not provide any guarantee of a true and fair game. I do not believe that the video poker doubling game was ever specifically audited, as the fact that Mr. Shackelford did not already have at his disposal logs for the previous 12 months or so shows this. The 'guarantee' is little different from a celebrity endorsement of a running shoe, and really guarantees nothing.

The only thing that can be said for them is that they did not want to go out of business by going 'underground', and just refusing to do anything or answering complaints - once they had been caught red handed and after their initial attempt at a cover-up, they did pay everyone back. The best you can say of this episode is that if you play at a mainstream casino like this, if you can prove the casino is ripping you off, you will get paid back. Those who can't prove it, you get nothing. But that's at least better than the likes of Casino Bar, where they just say 'up yours'.

Hardly an endorsement for a casino however, and I doubt that we will see this lot being endorsed by upstanding affiliates again.

[kengam]

It was easy to pay back the players from April when they have been using that cheat for years. They got 40k of my money prior to that and much more from others.