Ultimate Bet Sued by Eight Former Players
- by Thomas Baker
The former owners of Ultimate Bet, Excapsa Software, are being sued by eight poker players who have accused the online poker room of embezzling $20 million from its member base. It is claimed this was done through a hole-card sting organised by the poker room’s employees.
The eight players include three big names in the professional poker world. They are Brad Booth, Tom Koral, and Dustin Woolf, all of whom held accounts with Ultimate Bet, which used to be part of the Cereus Poker Network.
Hailing from Whitehorse in Yukon, Brad Booth has been very vocal in his criticism of Ultimate Bet, particularly after complaints by players that employees of the poker room had themselves created accounts and were using faults in the software to spy on an opponent’s hole cards. Broad Booth told Bryan, the DonkDown Radio’s host, that Ultimate Bet had ruined his life and had stolen as much as $2 million from him, as well as many funds that he had loaned from other poker players.
Not only have the eight players brought an injunction against Ultimate Bet but are also claiming damages in relation to charges for fraud, RICO conspiracy, unfair business practices, conversion, negligence, causing emotional hardship, and interfering with prospective financial damage.
Along with 10 employees, Excapsa Software Inc, which later changed its name to 6356095 Canada Inc, is the defendant. Although not yet named, the 10 employees will have the chance to answer the charges laid against them.
Along with Absolute Poker, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet was suspended in April last year by the US federal government, in what is known as Black Friday. All had their domain names seized, while their chief executive officers were all indicted for bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling.