The situation at English Harbour (+Free Bonus Link)

[LinusKS]

This is partly from memory, so if I've got anything wrong, please feel free to correct me.

About a month ago, a poster on CasinoMeister accused EH of fixing their doubling game.

Several of us tried the game out for ourselves, and were able to confirm the game was indeed "fixed," returning 2:1, instead of 1:1.

After a couple of days, the software was updated, and results returned to normal.

A couple of days after that, the casino offered a statement through Bryan, the owner/webmaster of CasinoMeister:

[ QUOTE ]
...We have concluded our review of the game play and randomness for all Video Poker games.

...We have found, taking several sample sets over different and varying lengths of time, that they yield in our opinion, a non biased distribution of the cards.

We trust, that we have responded adequately and any doubt in peoples' mind are put to rest...

[/ QUOTE ]

However, later that day, Michael Shackleton ("The Wizard of Odds") posted.

[ QUOTE ]
Yesterday, May 2, I was made aware of the issue possible irregularities in the doubling feature of Odds On software... Until we have had a chance to review the log files we can neither confirm nor deny the accusations.

[/ QUOTE ]

Shackleton is a paid consultant for EH, and certifies the fairess of their games.


Two days later, Shackleton confirmed the English Harbour games were indeed fixed, but it was because of a software bug.

[ QUOTE ]
According to English Harbor problem was caused by a buggy software update on April 13, which was automatically corrected by a subsequent update on May 2...

Although both English Harbor and myself believe that April 13 to May 2 was the only period affected we will be scrutinizing earlier logs to make sure....

[/ QUOTE ]

EH sent the bug to The Wizard, and to a CM moderator. Both said they're satisfied with EH's explanation.

No additional logs were disclosed, to my knowledge.

The thread has subsequently been closed.




Whether you believe English Harbour's explanation is up to you (although I'm curious whether you do). But it's worth noting that there've been at least a half-dozen cases of casinos offering fixed games to the public, and none - that i know of - of poker sites doing the same.

This is also the only case - again, that I know of - where a casino wasn't subsequently rogued for offering a fixed game.

The bottom line is that if you're thinking about playing at a casino - whether for bonus or otherwise, you're not in Kansas anymore. Casinos do not operate like poker sites.

You may not just be playing against a house edge - you may be playing against an actual doom switch, as well.


Now the promised bonus link (from a former employee of a Costa Rican based internet company: http://carlhutton.eponym.com/blog/_a...4/1981778.html