60 Minutes Poker Show Misleading

The highly anticipated segment on the Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker scandals on the CBS news program 60 Minutes finally aired, but it seems the reporters were a little loose on their interpretation of some of the facts. Their information about the scandal itself, where players with a master-level access to the poker room servers could see their opponent’s cards, was spot on, but the reporter refereed to online poker as “illegal” in the US. While it is true that certain financial transactions are prohibited by law among poker rooms and banks, the legality of playing poker is in question.