It was not the media, the auditors or a regulatory body that uncovered the online poker fraud taking place at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. Rather, it was an Australian online poker player, Michael Josem, who analyzed detailed data from the sites and found that some player accounts won money far to fast for them to be legitimate.

The online poker player’s findings led to the parent company of the allegedly fraudulent sites undertaking its own internal investigation. The investigation found employees had been defrauding players for three years through a security gap. It was these findings that led to a USD $75 million legal claim against the designers of the poker rooms’ software.

Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet repaid the players who lost money but would not release the identity of the cheaters. However, investigators named Russ Hamilton as one of the main perpetrators of the fraud. He is one of the world’s most successful poker players.