CBS’ 60 Minutes is set to air a a piece concerning the Internet poker industry and a notorious “insider poker cheat.” Many in the industry are wary of the airing and potential damage that may arise as a result. There have been previous tapings covering the topic of internet gambling, and for the most part they have been fair in their reports. In one investigation they looked at how easy it would be for a minor to access an online casino with their parents’ credit card. After four tries the minor finally succeeded in accessing a casino – Golden Palace.
It has been said that the piece will cover the Absolute Poker scandal from last fall.
Over the past week, politicians and the Poker Players Alliance appeared in Washington for a very important hearing; It was to address the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and its seemingly hopeless regulations. Online poker players are expressing some concern over what direction the 60 Minutes airing might be taking. The hope is that they will be objective as possible.
It is quite clear, that exposing a scandal as harmful as the Absolute scandal will hurt the online poker industry in a big way. If potential new players are tainted with the idea that it isn’t a trustworthy industry the online poker boom will surely drop. Interestingly enough, even with the scandal, Absolute Poker hasn’t suffered much of a blow at all. The amount of players using their Poker Room has remained steady according to PokerSiteScout.com. Probably the main reason it hadn’t hurt them as bad as many had feared is that they reacted in a proper fashion by paying back affected players.
60 Minutes holds that much of the buzz floating around the Internet are mere rumors. We won’t known for sure what will be included in their piece until the actual airing. Nevertheless there will probably be some good, most definitely some bad, but hopefully fair analysis.