Pokerbotting: Legal and Moral, says The Guardian
Written by Indiana   
Monday, 02 March 2009

ImageThe Guardian, one of the most respected UK newspapers published a recent article on pokerboting, namely, that Pokerbotting ain't illegal. "Does pokerbotting imply that you're breaking the law? The short answer is no." - writes Robert Blincoe after consulting with laywers. Using pokerbot might be a breach of contact of some casinos that has decided to not allow pokerbots, but even on these sites breaching the ToS isn't something desiring special attention. "If breaching T&Cs is a crime, almost everyone's doing it." says the article. The underlying problem here is that cheating in online games is normally defined as business specific, instead of having a common, scientific game theory and computer science based definition of that. Such would clearly separate activities like botting, which does not give unfair advantage from game theory standpoint, from cheating: like collusion or client/server hacking that provides one with such advantage.
Not only Brits has developed the most elaborated laws with regard to regulating gambling, but they are also clearly ahead with better educated journalism.
Last Updated ( Friday, 06 March 2009 )