888poker Makes Record Refund in 2022 to over 6000 Players

888poker has announced that the money was recovered from players’ accounts that had been found to violate the company’s fair gaming policy. 

The Fight Against Unfair Gaming Advantages Carries On

When commenting about the news, 888 Holdings’ online poker network also spoke about their ongoing battle against the rising issue of bots, real-time advisors, and the use of Artificial Intelligence software programming meant to give players unfair advantages over real-life poker players. 

Poker bots represent illegal and unethical computer programs that can play poker without human intervention, offering players unfair advantages. Real-time advisor software is capable of reading data from poker tables from computer screens and using it on a different computer to provide real-time gameplay advice. The same software can display real-time optimal play solutions for both preflop and postflop scenarios.

Most of these programs are compatible with heads-up poker players between two players, as well as tables with a maximum of three, four, eight, or nine players. They can also be used during cash games and poker tournaments. 

The same real-time advisor software that 888poker is struggling to ban can also save a player’s hand history for any poker room and provide them with useful statistics.

By continuously investing in better detection capacities that can spot this type of unethical software and bots, 888poker aims to guarantee “safe, fair, and enjoyable” experiences for all of its players.

32% Rise in the Number of Detections in 2022

The record amount that was refunded to 6,801 players’ accounts over the course of last year was possible thanks to all these efforts shown by 888 Holdings’ online poker division. 

On average, each player was refunded $42. 888poker explained the new results marked a 32% rise in the number of detections of players conspiring with each other to obtain unfair upper hands compared to 2021. Then, the company seized over $300,000 in funds that were found to be operated by poker accounts using bots or Artificial Intelligence-based poker software.

888poker’s head of poker offering Matan Krakow spoke about the important topic of game integrity that the company has taken and will continue to take “very seriously.”

He added that thanks to their ongoing technology investments, the hard efforts of their team members, and the excellent cooperation of their players, the detection rate of bot accounts, collusion, and real-time advisors have gone up significantly, leading to the record refunding amount reached in 2023. 

Krakow also anticipated that the current year will follow the same path, with the same strong focus on guaranteeing the fairest and safest experiences for all players who will choose the 888poker platform to play. 

In February, 888poker named Spanish poker player Lucia Navarro its new ambassador.