Online Poker Sites > How is Online Poker Regulated?

How is Online Poker Regulated?

Over the past few years, poker has gained immense popularity in the UK and can now be played online at dozens of poker sites. However, despite its popularity, its legitimacy is often brought into question; is online poker rigged? Can the games be fixed? Can opponents, hackers, site employees, etc. see my hole cards? These are all healthy questions, and therefore Online Poker Sites has decided to do in-depth research to answer the question “How is online poker regulated?”

As you might or might not be aware, this is a complex topic. We’re dealing with the UK Gambling Commission, as well as the dozen or so gambling commissions around the world, on top of software providers, auditors, coalitions, and then means of self-regulation. We’ll save the summary opinions and consolidated research for other pages of our site, and for now dive into the topic starting with UK gambling laws.

UK Gambling Laws and Gaming Commissions

Compared to the gambling laws of some other countries, the UK gambling laws are quite clearly defined. The gambling law precisely states that regulated gambling is legally accepted, so that there is no confusion whatsoever for the players. The UK gambling laws also allow operation of non-UK sites under British jurisdiction, provided they are licensed and follow the international gambling standards. This has greatly increased the number of secure and profitable online poker sites that can be accessed by poker players.

Since online poker is absolutely legal in the UK, which includes England, Scotland and Wales, you can play poker at any licensed online poker site, without having to worry about breaking the law. In case you wish to operate an online poker site in the UK, although a bit costly anyone can apply for a license from the UK Gambling Commission.

Gambling Act of 2005

Gambling laws in the UK have a long history; in fact the first gaming act was enforced early as 1845. Since then many acts have been passed, each updating existing gambling laws. Currently, both land-based gambling and online gambling is regulated by the Gambling Commission under authority given to them by the Gambling Act of 2005.

The UK Gambling Act of 2005, which went into effect 01-Sept, 2007, regulates many forms of gambling activities in England, Wales and Scotland. The objectives of this act are listed below.

The Gaming Commission of the UK was created as a result of this act, with the main objective: a safe and secure environment for a wide range of online and offline gaming activities including online poker. This act allows operation of remote betting and gaming through the internet, television, radio, telephone or any other form of electronic device that enables communication. Online poker sites that offer remote gaming should be licensed either by the Gaming Commission of the UK or any other jurisdiction in the world, where online gambling is legal.

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission

The Gambling Commission of the UK is a regulatory authority that was set up under the Gaming Act of 2005. Sponsored by the department of Culture, Media and Sport of the UK government, the Commission is a non-departmental public body that operates independently. Gambling activities regulated by the Commission include arcade games, betting, bingo, casino gaming (online and offline), gaming machines and software providers, lottery, and remote gambling operators based in Britain. However, spread betting and National Lotteries are not regulated by this commission.

When it comes to poker, the gambling commission legally accepts organized poker games at homes or private places only with friends, guests or co-workers and not the general public. Also, no fee is to be charged for participating in such games, though players are allowed to play for real money. Poker games can be organized in public places like clubs or pubs, but under strict regulation regarding the stakes and prizes.

All the poker sites that apply for a license with the Commission will have their RNG (Random Number Generator) and other gaming software tested and tried for reliability. The licensing process of the Gambling Commission also includes strict financial audits and scrutiny of the management of the gaming company. The online poker sites and casinos should also adhere to specific codes of practice under the Gambling Act of 2005, to ensure that:

In addition to that, the Gambling Commission also requires the licensed online poker sites to adhere to the social responsibility codes. Operators that fail to meet these codes will have to face legal implications. Along with providing licenses and regulating online gambling and poker sites, the UK Gambling Commission also works in collaboration with the ruling government in matters related to the legislative policies and procedures for gambling in the UK.

Online Poker Regulation Scenario in the UK

Current law requires all companies operating online poker sites in the United Kingdom to hold a valid license issued by the Gambling Commission. However, since the origin of the Gambling Act of 2005, the United Kingdom has been especially accommodating to online poker players and international operators, which has created loopholes.

The biggest names in the UK including Betfair, William Hill, Ladbrokes, Bet365, Victor Chandler etc. all operate their online poker clients outside the control of the Gambling Commission, as do other popular poker sites such as PokerStars and PartyPoker.

The loophole: these companies are located and licensed off-shore in British jurisdictions like Gibraltar, Isle of Man, and Alderney thus benefiting from reduced or nil business taxes, whilst having free reign to advertise in the UK as part of the government’s whitelist policy. The good news as we’ll cover soon is that most (not all) these companies are subject to strict regulation, such as companies licensed in Gibraltar and Isles of Man; both very strong gambling commissions.

Licensed Poker Sites in the UK

We encourage any operator offering online poker under a UK Gambling Commission license to please email jim at (our website name), so we can add reference here.

To our knowledge there are currently no online poker sites operating the poker aspect of their company under a UK license. The majority of popular online poker sites are licensed off-shore in British jurisdictions like Gibraltar, Isle of Man, and Alderney, EEA jurisdictions such as Malta and Cyprus, and non-whitelisted jurisdiction such as Kahnawake, Curacao, Costa Rica, Panama and Belize.

We’ll quickly cover the UK whitelist, and then give a review of some of the more popular gambling commissions poker sites are licensed by.

UK Gambling Commission Whitelist

When the U.K. Gambling Act of 2005 went into effect Sept. 1, 2007 one of the new laws restricted online gambling advertisements in the UK to only companies licensed by either the UK Gambling Commission or a government licensing body of another European Economic Area (EEA) jurisdiction. Countries outside the EEA were allowed to apply for approval to advertise gambling in the United Kingdom, and those approved were added to the white list (now commonly referred to without a space as “the whitelist”).

In order to make “the white list” countries needed to meet stringent criteria that protected children from gambling, protected vulnerable people, worked to keep games fair and regulated, and had safeguards against crime and money laundering. Gibraltar, already well-established as a reputable online gambling jurisdiction, was automatically added to the whitelist without need to apply. Independently governed British Crown dependencies Isle of Man and Alderney were both approved for the whitelist prior to the Act going into effect. A full list of jurisdictions currently on the whitelist is included below.

Gibraltar – automatically included
Alderney – added prior to the effective date of the U.K. Gambling Act of 2005.
Isles of Man – added prior to the effective date of the U.K. Gambling Act of 2005.
Tasmania – addition effective January 31, 2008
Antigua – addition effective November 20, 2008

The Kahnawakee Gambling Commission was declined for UK whitelist approval, and despite appeal remained declined. Other countries declined include Belize, Costa Rica and Curacao.

The inclusion of Antigua on the whitelist has led to heavy ongoing political debates. Some MPs have question whether Antigua meets the regulatory standards, whilst others in opposition of their inclusion simply feel more support should be given to UK companies such as Betfair. Currently there is a push asking the government to require all gambling companies doing business in the UK to obtain a Gambling Commission license. This is a topic heavily debated with big money lobby interest at stake and therefore might take a while to make any traction. A good external link on the topic can be found here.

Gambling Commissions Licensing Online Poker

As already mentioned in this report, most, or perhaps all online poker sites popular in the United Kingdom operate and are licensed outside of the UK. In this section we’ll give brief info on the seven gambling commissions that when combined, cover more than 95% of the UK and gambling market.

The Gibraltar Regulatory Authority (GRA)

The Gibraltar Regulatory Authority or GRA is a legislative body in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. They were established in October 2000. Originally responsible for regulating telecommunications, this regulatory authority was appointed the ‘Gambling Commissioner’ for Gibraltar in 2005, after the Gambling Act of 2005 was introduced. The GRA commenced its operations from October 26th 2006 and functions with the objective of regulating activities of casinos and online gambling sites that are based under its jurisdiction. The principles of the GRA are –

To ensure secure and fair gaming facilities to players, the GRA tests and verifies the gaming operators and software and thoroughly scrutinises the profiles of the management and key personnel of the gaming company before issuing licenses for online poker sites and casinos. Licenses offered by the GRA are highly coveted because of its stringent verification procedures. So far, only 19 licenses have been issued, with most of them being for reputed gaming companies with a significant UK presence.

Known as ‘home to the world’s leading online gambling operators’, the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority has issued licenses to the most reputed poker sites marketing in the UK including PartyPoker, Betfair Poker, Bet365 Poker, Victor Chandler, Ladbrokes 888poker, William Hill and even Yahoo Poker. All these licensed sites are managed from Gibraltar and are required to submit an audit report annually to the GRA for verification.

Without doubt, poker sites that are licensed by the GRA are held to strict regulatory and social standards, and the GRA makes strong efforts to ensure the games are fair and that the companies holding player’s funds are financially stable and free of criminal activity. As the GRA standards are closely in line with those of the UK Gambling Commission and their governing act was mirrored and drafted to the standards of the United Kingdom’s Gambling Act of 2005, players should see the GRA licensing nearly equivalent to a UK gambling license, and a GRA licensed logo as a sign of trust.

The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission

Established in 1962, the Gambling Supervision Commission is a gaming regulatory authority for Isle of Man, which is a self-governing British Crown Dependency. The Commission was introduced with the objective of providing a fair and safe gaming environment for players on the island. Since the advent of online gaming, this commission has been striving for the development of the online gambling industry to provide fair gaming opportunities to online casino and poker players.

Among the first gambling commission to introduce the Online Gambling Regulations Act, which is a law protecting the rights of players, the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission has issued licenses to leading poker sites including the largest online poker site in the world – PokerStars.com. The commission operates with the following principles:

A unique feature of Isle of Man licensed poker sites… they are required under their licensing agreement to keep players’ account balances ring fenced and entirely segregated from operating funds. This makes it certain players’ balances cannot be spent on marketing, salaries or anything else.

Before the Isle of Man will issue a poker site a license, the gaming and other software systems of the poker site have to be tested and audited only by approved testing companies that include international organisations such as BMM Compliance, eCogra, Gaming Associates and TST Global. Although additional poker sites such as Boyle Sports Poker (Alderney) and PaddyPower Poker (Kahnawake) hold valid Isle of Man licenses, the only poker site operating under an Isle of Man license we know of happens to be the world’s largest online poker site, PokerStars.com. Other reputable gambling “operating under” licenses issued by Isle of Man include Asian sports betting giant SBOBet, and popular live dealer casino DublinBet.com.

The Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta

Established in 2001 under the Maltese Lotteries and Other Games Act, the Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) is the regulatory authority for all forms of gaming in Malta. The LGAs objective is to regulate all forms of gambling operations that include amusement machines, remote gaming, bingo, racing, national lottery and live TV games. The aims of this commission are to:

Malta is considered the world’s largest online gambling jurisdiction and has so far issued the highest number of licenses for gambling. This is not at all due to ease of obtaining a license. In fact, during our research Online Poker Sites spoke with an executive of a major poker site who when questioned about LGA informed:

“I feel pretty good about the checks required for a Maltese licence… what last year was described as a three months process, in fact turned out to be twelve months’ worth of investigations and hoop jumping; it’s not easy to get a Maltese gambling license!”

The reasons Malta is a popular place to establish a gambling operation include low corporate taxes, great infrastructure, and the fact Malta is a EEA jurisdiction allows their licensees the ability to offer tax-free poker to much of Europe and also provides them freedom to advertise in the UK. A few of the many poker sites operating under a Maltese license include Virgin Poker, PokerKings, BetSafe and NoIQ, a complete list can be found here. Unfortunately one common complaint is that LGA is not responsive when it comes to player complaints.

Slightly concerned by the high number of licenses and non responsiveness we did a full investigation of Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) if you read that report it should become apparent why we rank their gambling commission one of the best.

Alderney Gambling Control Commission

Formed in May 2000, the Alderney gambling Control Commission is a non-political authority that regulates internet gambling activities in Alderney, a part of Bailiwick of Guernsey, which is a British Crown Dependency. This gambling commission “claims” to their operators to a high standard and keep them under continuous review of security measures, payout procedures and their marketing strategies to ensure that everything is above board. Their objectives include ensuring their operators run honest and fair games, all management and funding is free of criminal influence and that their players are protected, especially those that are under age.

The AGCC has however not been free from criticism. After viewing their handling of the Full Tilt Poker situation, which included removing former statements from their website Online Poker Sites did a much closer examination of Alderney’s Gambling Commission. We finally concluded Alderney Gambling Control Commission a legitimate online gambling commission based on their strict “initial” licensing requirements. By only licensing the largest and most respected companies (such as current license holders Boyle Sports and Blue Square) they’ve been quite effective without much follow up regulation required. We’re optimistic the Full Tilt situation will be a good learning experience for AGCC and hope to see them put further safeguards and means of ongoing regulation in place.

Antigua and Barbuda – Directorate of Offshore Gaming

The two-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, often called simply Antigua for short, is one of the oldest providers of remote gambling licenses. Established in 1994, the Directorate of Offshore Gaming is a branch of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission. What’s unique is that Antigua treats online gambling sites as ‘financial institutions’. Whilst other gambling commissions simply look to regulate and keep games fair, prevent money laundering and crime, and protect vulnerable persons and minors, Antigua does all these things, plus regulates all aspects of a company’s financial matters. Subject to detailed reporting, full audits of financials and much more, generally speaking companies licensed in Antigua are reputable, however their regulator body hasn’t been without scandal.

A long time Antiguan gambling license holder wsex.com had their license revoked in December 2010. However, this was more than 9 months after irrefutable evidence surfaced on independent gambling forums outlining the company’s financial difficulties and gross default in making payments for withdrawal requests made by their players. As of 25 April 2011, more 48 complaints have been filed showing wsex.com is in default on $431,817 in payments, some dating back more than 14 months. This isn’t the first time the Financial Services Regulatory Commission actions have been called into question. Whilst a separate division, the same government agency failed to detect the Allen Stanford scandal. Of course numerous reputable companies are licensed in Antigua. The most noteworthy include internet giants Titan Poker and poker.bodog.co.uk.

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission

Based in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake, an Indian reserve in Canada, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission is a gaming regulatory authority that was established in 1996. This commission issues licenses to online casinos and poker sites from around the world. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) has given licenses to some of the biggest online poker sites from Europe, Australia and the Caribbean after verifying the gaming company’s background, reliability of gaming software and ability to make fair and guaranteed payouts.

However, unlike its European and British counterparts, the KGC has failed on more than one occasion to successfully regulate its license holders and prevent them from cheating their players. The commission was in the news in 2007 about a scandal related to its license holder, Absolute Poker, which was a popular online poker site at the time. The gaming commission has also been criticised for licensing Ultimate Bet Poker, which was involved in a scandal during the period 2005-2007.

Further, the operators of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet Poker were in hot water again in 2011, this time indicted for engaging in bank fraud and money laundering in the US, leading to an economic crackdown on the US gambling market. Although it may not be directly involved in cheating, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission has time and again failed to regulate the activities of its poker sites and protect the interests of poker players around the world.

Curacao Egaming Licenses

Curacao, the largest Island of the former Netherlands Antilles, has been offering egaming licenses since 1996. Their licensing requirements are strict requiring gambling operators to have a physical presence, hosting, and all hardware on the Island. The application process for licensing involves a 6-week wait consisting of a vigorous background check, and audit of business plans and financials. You can rest assured if a company has a Curacao gambling license they worked hard to get it. The benefit to the companies operating in Curacao is low tax and great infrastructure. Qualifying ezone companies pay no state tax, and are taxed at only 2% of their net gaming revenue, plus there are no restrictions on dividend withdrawals.

The one downside for players is that Curacao will not intermediate in any player complaints. The positive for the players is many offshore gaming companies are licensed in one country, do support in another, bank in a third and might have multiple other operations around the globe. In Curacao, for the most part, company headquarters, software, support offices and everything else are all located on the Island. This makes companies licensed in Curacao more accessible, which is a good thing should something go wrong. The most noteworthy company operating in Curacao is pinnaclesports.com (which offers Pinnacle Poker), while the Cake Poker Network (not recommended due to their ties to illegal US gambling) also operates here as well as in Malta.

Other Gambling Commissions

There are some forty odd other gambling commissions in the world although few apply to online poker. Most all major poker sites with any sort of UK exposure are licensed by Gibraltar, Malta, Kahnawake, Curacao, Antigua, Alderney or Isle of Man.

Summary Opinion about Gambling Commissions

Online Poker Sites, based on heavy research, would rank gambling commissions outside of the UK in the following order:

#1 Gibraltar – This is where the highly reputable UK companies have set up shop. Whilst Gibraltar is not exactly a British colony and is very close to self-governed, they’re still British overseas territory and Gibraltarians have full British citizenship. The GRA has long been a preferred gambling district and much of the UK Gambling Commission was based on existing GRA regulation. It’s the opinion of Online Poker Sites that if a company is licensed in Gibraltar, there is a high probability their games are fair and well regulated.

#2 Isles of Man – This is where the largest online poker site in the world PokerStars.com is licensed, as well as one of Asia’s largest sports betting sites sbobet.com, and popular live dealer casino Dublin Bet. Their commission has a unique feature that requires all players’ deposits to remain segregated from each company’s operating funds. Their regulatory policies meet Gambling Commission standards and they are proactive in keeping their website up to date about egambling happenings and audits of their operators. As is the case with Gibraltar, we’re under the opinion that sites licensed by the Isles of Man likely offer fair and well regulated poker games.

#3 Malta – The third gambling commission we consider safe is Malta’s LGA, and a huge plus is Malta is a member of the European Union. The LGA has also been active in keeping their website updated with a list of current, suspended, terminated and canceled licenses and with warning players of potential issues. There have however been a few instance (example Stryke) where we feel such warnings were too little too late, so do recommend slight caution dealing with Malta, however we do consider LGA one of the top three online gambling licensing bodies.

Other commission we are of the opinion ARE reputable include Antigua, Curacao, Alderney and Tasmania; however there is a wide gap between our top 3 list, and fourth place.

Commissions that we do not consider their seal a mark of authority include Kahnawake, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize and Cyprus. This is not to say reputable companies do not exist in these jurisdictions. It is only meant to say we have no confidence in these jurisdictions ability or willingness to regulate online poker.

Ensuring Game Fairness with RNG Audits

The topic Random Number Generator (RNG) is one we won’t discuss in depth, because contrary to popular belief, RNG audits are not a valid counter against “online poker is rigged” theories.

If you’re not familiar with random number generators, this is the technology online poker sites use to shuffle their cards, ensuring cards dealt are random, do not follow a pattern and are in no way predictable. The method of deal is different between sites; for example: PokerStars does it one way (“details”) and Full Tilt did it another way (“details”). Even further than the methodology differing, there are also multiple different types of software and hardware used for generating random numbers. To understand the complexity of it search wikipedia.org and read about pseudorandom number generators, true random number generators, random numbers vs. pseudorandom numbers, linear congruential generators, etc. As your research moves into quantum mechanics you’ll begin to realise just how complex RNGs are.

Audits of poker sites methods of deal are important, but not because an RNG audit does anything much to ensure the games are not rigged. Even if audits were done at random, which they are not, changing over the system while an auditor is stalled in the lobby or car park isn’t as difficult as one might think. However, let’s take a look at an actual scenario to show why RNG audits are important.

In the early days of online poker the first ever real money poker site PlanetPoker.com, as well as others, used gambling software developed by ASF Software, Inc. which had an at the time complex, but otherwise faulty RNG. Due to an off-by-one problem, mixed with a poor distribution of shuffle and a poor choice for seed selection processing anyone syncing their own system with the system clock of the server generating the pseudo-random number could reduce the possible order of decks down to 200,000 combinations, as opposed to the 4 billion combinations that actually exist. With the code now cracked a Pentium 400 home computer was sufficient enough to know every players holdings as well as what the flop turn and river would be.

To explain further if two players with access to the 200,000 possible shuffles got together and colluded, knowing only their four cards in exact order narrowed the possibilities of all other players’ holdings and what the flop, turn and river would be to just a few scenarios. Add a flop and more times than not all the other cards were now 100% known to the team who cracked the RNG.

What I just shared is a true story and you can read about it clicking here or clicking here.

The team who cracked the RNG made a great point about it in their published report, saying:

“People used to think that cracking 56-bit DES in real time would take too long to be feasible, but history has shown otherwise. In January 1997, a secret DES key was recovered in 96 days. Later efforts broke keys in 41 days, then 56 hours, and, in January 1999, in 22 hours and 15 minutes. The leap forward in cracking ability doesn’t bode well for small key lengths or small sets of seeds!”

It is important that the method of deal is audited so companies and poker players know hackers are not cracking RNGs and predicting deals. With this the industry does an outstanding job. All poker sites licensed by Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Malta, Alderney and most other jurisdictions, the exceptions being Costa Rica and Belize, are required to have their gaming software and RNGs certified by approved auditors. PokerStars.com uses the Citigal, Inc. the company who has cracked RNGs in the past, where other sites use reputable international organisations such as BMM Compliance, Gaming Associates and TST Global.

Summary Opinion about RNG Audits

The audits done by companies such as Citigal, TST, eCogra and the likes help ensure if the games are as poker sites present them to be than the games are fair. To state it bluntly so long as the poker site itself is not in the business of cheating players than these audits act as great protection that ensures the games are as safe or most likely safer than one can find in a live poker room.

Of course this leaves us with the interesting question. How do we know poker sites are not in the business of cheating players? Jonathan Wanchalk covered his own opinion of that in his article we published titled Online Poker is Rigged. We slightly disagree with his suggestion that RNG audits serve as assurance, but we agree with his other points and find his article a great read. To look further though at how we actually know games are not rigged… we’ll cover that in a later section covering “Self-Regulation”.

Hackers, Super Users and Seeing an Opponent’s Hole Cards

Situations where players were cheated due to an opponent having the ability to see their hole cards have occurred in the past. One of the oldest known scandals where there is no evidence of but it very well possibility could have occurred involved a popular rakeback provider giving away rake calculators which had rootkits hidden inside. The original warning about that on twoplustwo is here, as well as the public statement from the company here. There was also a situation where high stakes poker players staying in the Commerce Casino in Los Angles had their accounts hacked as a result of playing on an unsecured network with hacker in range, a partial reference can be found here.

This is only a small sample of cases where it was possible that a player’s account was accessed and/or hole cards theoretically may have been available to an opponent. In order to protect against these things, be careful what you download, especially poker related downloads. Be sure to scan your computer for trojans, malware, rootkits, and always play on a secure internet connection.

Security Vulnerabilities of Online Poker Sites

One example where hole cards were accessed in a controlled environment due to a poker sites’ own failure to protect their datastream properly can be found here. It was later revealed they were not alone as the Cake Poker Network had similar vulnerabilities.

Insider Cheating at Online Poker Sites

Insider cheating has occurred at online poker sites. The largest known insider cheating scandal involved access to player’s hole cards, where the perpetrators from inside the company were successful in defrauding players out of £24 million (details here). A similar cheating scandal occurred previously at Absolute Poker which has ties to Ultimate Bet. Whilst never proven, a third company Pitbull Poker was also accused of insider cheating. The company refused to speak or answer questions to those investigating and eventually closed down as the bad press had nearly put them out of business.

Summary Opinion of Cheating in Online Poker

Whilst not a popular opinion and most at forums such as 2+2 will swear online poker is 100% above the board, it is the opinion of Online Poker Sites cheating in online poker does occur. However as you’ll see in our next section on self-regulation, for the most part the games are fair, and when playing at the large reputable sites with proper security consciousness in place, the chances of being cheated are quite slim.

How Online Poker Regulates Itself (Self-Regulation)

The final section of our study on “how online poker is regulated” is self-regulation, which happens to be something the industry does quite well. We cover the various aspects of that below.

Tracking Player History

Poker sites make individual and entire hand histories available to players. 3rd party sites have taken advantage of this by creating software that collects this data and organizes it into different categories. There are 10s, if not 100s of these categories. Each one gives players more information about their opponents, which enables them to make highly educated decisions.

In regards to regulating, players can go through these hand histories using their tracking software to analyse their opponents’ play. If a player takes the time to use a replayer combined with the numerical data, cheating, whether by super user or a team (collusion), can become very apparent.

PokerTracker & Holdem Manager

The two most popular tracking systems include Poker Tracker (3) and Holdem Manager. Both of these programs collect cash, tournament and sit and go hand histories of everyone that is at your table(s). These poker hand trackers can indirectly help poker players and sites in regulating online poker by tracking suspicious players and identifying online poker frauds.

Poker Datamining

Poker datamining is the act of collecting hands from poker sites without having to be present at the tables. Originally, players would perform this task themselves using various programs. Now larger datamining sites, such as Poker Table Ratings, have streamlined the process, collecting more hands quickly and distributing them to players for a flat rate or on a month-to-month subscription.

Essentially, datamining takes poker tracking to a new level. Since players do not have to play in order to collect hands, they can get information on their opponents faster. Then they can go through the data, and once again, possibly find any cheating taking place.

Despite the benefits of player tracking, especially in regards to self-regulation, not every site will allow players to use these tools and resources. The majority of poker sites allow tracking software such as Poker Tracker 3 and Holdem Manager, while most do not allow players to collect and use hands from games there were not a part of.

Poker Forums

There are a number of online poker forums in the UK today, which provide the required information to both new and experienced poker players. Players can interact with other poker players in their community to learn about the game, the reliability and usability of UK poker sites, and also discuss any other issue relating to online poker and its regulation.

A popular international forum for online poker and gambling discussion is twoplustwo.com, which is an online site established by a poker player. This site gained a lot of popularity in the year 2007, when its posts helped in uncovering the Absolute Poker scandal. Although these forums are primarily for discussing and sharing information about online poker, they can also help in regulating the online poker industry indirectly.

Summary Opinion of Poker Player Self-Regulation

Poker players in the UK have all the advantages of playing on regulated sites, which protect them from the risks of online gambling. This along with the ability to monitor and self-regulate the games independently decreases the likelihood of being cheated or falling victim to scams.

However, as there are so many online poker sites today, players should take the necessary precautions in choosing a site that is safe and has a good track record as the current regulation system is far from fail proof. To ensure that you choose a properly regulated online poker site, make sure that you check the details of its licensing and regulation, verify contact details, and go through the terms and conditions to understand your obligations and risks on the site. If players are still concerned about being cheated, it’s recommended that they stick to the larger and more well-known poker sites. The possibility of being cheated won’t be eliminated entirely, but it’ll be reduced drastically.

Overall Summary Opinion

We are continuing to research other aspects of online poker such as competition, promotions, bonuses, rakeback, payout policies, banking methods, tournament rules, disconnect policy and much more. We will reserve our overall summary opinion (which will include poker site recommendations) for a later time. In the meantime we’ll state: cheating has been a part of poker since the time the game has originated. Online poker is far safer than 1800’s riverboat ring games of years past, though it is certainly not now nor likely will ever be entirely free of cheats. Players should understand the risks… when something doesn’t feel right, scan your computer, change games, poker sites or whatever else.

At this time our very early opinion is… large and regulated sites such as pokerstars.com and partypoker.com near certainly offer the fairest games. On the other hand, smaller poker sites might have softer games, better bonuses and promotions and the like. In some cases it might make sense to play not where the games are the safest, but rather where the most money can be won. This is a situation where only the player himself can decide. It is the goal of Online Poker Sites to provide enough information that each player can make that decision an informed one. We will continue updating this page and creating other detailed poker information reports as our site ages and matures.