New information, concerning the cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet that surfaced back in May 2013, was just released. New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) officially announced that by far no evidence was found about Jim Ryan, current managing director of online gaming provider Pala Interactive, being involved in it.
Yesterday, the regulatory body published on its official site the results from the preliminary investigation that was carried out. According to the report, DGE supported a transactional waiver for the tribal online gaming distributor.
Earlier this week, the California-based tribe introduced its PalaCasino.com platform to a limited audience in the state of New Jersey.
Jim Ryan was previously a managing director of Excapsa, Ultimate Bet’s parent company. Customers of the online platform, which is currently out of operation, have been curious to know as to whether Ryan was in any way involved in the cheating scandal that came to people’s attention last spring. As a reminder, it was announced that UB executives took advantage of the so-called ‘god mode’ or a cheat that allowed them to see the cards of other players.
Doubts were also raised as to weather Pala’s online platform was in any way related to UB’s.
David Rebuck, director of DGE, stated in the uploaded document that although Ryan was Excapsa’s CEO at the time the scandal was taking place, no evidence was found that he was involved in it. As it was pointed out in the report, Ryan left Excapsa on November 30, 2006 – not long after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed and subsidiaries Excapsa Services Inc. and Game Theory Holding Ltd. were sold to Tokwiro Enterprises.
According to the document, Ryan attested that Pala’s platform has nothing to do with the software that was utilized by Excapsa. What is more, DGE’s Technical Services Bureau has examined and approved it. The regulatory body pointed out that the investigation is to be continued, so as for it to be thorough, unbiased, and based on facts only.
Mr. Ryan shared in an interview that he found DGE’s letter an excellent way to pour oil on troubled waters. What is more, he tried to make it clear that he was not aware of the scandal and did not take part in it in any way. According to Pala’s CEO, the company and its products are not related with the the platform that UB offered to its customers and they are perfectly safe.
The DGE letter also commented on Pala’s sponsorship of the professional poker player Phil Ivey, signed in April 2013 and terminated in June 2014. It appears that the reason for its being put to an end was Ivey’s conflict with Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, Pala’s New Jersey partner. The resort claimed that the poker pro owed them the amount of $9.6 million.
