888poker has banned 85 Bot Accounts and Returned $100,000 To Players

The battle against bots in poker continues with 888poker announcing a massive crackdown on these AI bots and their creators.

Last week 888Poker announced that 85 bot accounts have been closed and they have recovered $100,000 and returned it to the customers that had fallen prey to this predatory bots. More than 4,000 players had been affected by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) programmes, which suggests that it was mostly small stakes players who had been affected by the bot activity.

In a press release 888poker revealed they were increasing their focus on identifying and removing bots from the site.

Amit Berkovich, Director of Marketing and Retention, commented:

We are proud of our continued progress in tackling bots that use software to create an unfair advantage over real-life players. We know that online poker players see bots as a concern when choosing their online poker platform, and we are proud to be leading the way in cracking down to ensure that 888poker provides an enjoyable, safe, and level playing field for all.

We will continue to use a combination of AI, our industry know-how and other monitoring software to crack down on bots and ensure that 888poker is the safe and fair platform of choice for all poker lovers.

These illegal bot account issues are not isolated to 888Poker. partypoker is another poker network and online poker room who have publicly revealed that not only are they also affected by these new bot attacks but they are also taking an effectively hard line in neutering them and protecting their customers. In 2019 alone they banned 749 bot accounts from their network and returned lost funds to affected parties.

Why Did 888 Close the Accounts?

According to the User Agreement at 888poker.com, “You may not use any software program, robot or external aid, which is endowed with artificial intelligence or which is not included in the Permitted Aids list (as set out above) in connection with your use of our Services.” The site then gives further explanations of the types of activity that counts as artificial intelligence. This includes:

• Software that facilitates collusion
• Tools that allow game selection based on opponents' identities
• Websites and programs that collect and share info on other players
• Software that acts on behalf of the player at the tables
• Programs that gather data on hands that the player doesn't play himself
• Tools that give advice to the player in real time while he plays
• Seating scripts

AI is considered one of the largest threats to online poker due to the exponential rate at which these bot attacks are not only increasing in number but also complexity. While this could be a cause of concern for online poker players it should be noted that reputable poker sites are aware of this issue and are actively stamping out this practice in a rapidly progressing arms-race between those who seek to damage a company and steal from their players and those that aim to improve their cyber security practices and in doing so ensure the security of both the players funds and the company's reputation.

These values are mirrored by ourselves here at Rake The Rake and we are constantly vigilant in protecting our players from these attacks and will ensure we continue to work alongside the world-class poker networks and their various rooms to prevent these attacks from affecting our much valued customers.