Online poker operator partypoker has released the latest numbers of redistributed funds from fraudulent accounts.
With several safer gambling measures in place to secure a secure gaming environment, the provider has now closed more than 1,700 accounts since first publishing official stats. The total amount of redistributed funds has surpassed $1.9 million, while the case numbers have slowed down and the amount of confiscated funds dropped.
Throughout the entire year 2021, the number of identified fraud cases reached 322, and $47,344 funds were redistributed. This continues a trend throughout the first half of the previous year and indicates that the sophisticated security measures in place have paid off for the operator.
The initial efforts towards cracking down on bots and the banning of third-party tools was announced in late 2018 and the first fraudulent cases were made public in December of that year. Since then, the grip has tightened further as partypoker has increased its security efforts across the board and put further measures and restrictions in place.
Fraudulent Funds Seized and Redistributed by partypoker since December 2018
| Year | Accounts Closed | Funds Redistributed |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 2018 | 76 | $416,967 |
| 2019 in Total | 713 | $987,647 |
| 2020 in Total | 608 | $462,541 |
| 2021 in Total | 322 | $47,344 |
In the first 13 months since the project was launched by the global online poker operator, several months have seen significant spikes in the number of confiscated funds and terminated accounts.
Only two months have seen more than 100 closed accounts with May 2019 having the highest amount of fraudulent accounts caught, with 142 closures and nearly $125k in funds redistributed. Close behind was July 2019, during which 121 fraudulent accounts were deleted and more than $174k was returned to players affected by the fraudulent activity.
In terms of the highest amount of funds confiscated, three months are at the top, with December 2018 — the very first month of the safer poker program — holding the current record of $416,917 in funds redistributed, from a total of 76 fraudulent accounts. Fifteen months later, in March 2020, we see the second-place record for the amount of funds confiscated with 70 cases closed and another $253,638 confiscated by the operator.
partypoker Fraudulent Accounts Stats Through December 2021
| Number of Months Reported | 37 |
| Total Accounts Closed Since Dec 18 | 1,719 |
| Total Seized ($) | $1,914,499 |
| Average Seized per Account | $1,114 |
| 2021 Account Closures | 322 (18.7%) |
| 2021 Amount Seized | $47,344 (2.47%) |
While year-over-year, we see the total number of cases for 2021 cut in half, as compared to 2020, more notably, the numbers show the total amount of redistributed funds has plummeted to around one-tenth. Compared to the overall average of $1,112 seized by the operator in 2020, that figure for 2021 stands far lower at a mere $147.
Throughout the last few years, partypoker has increased its efforts to focus on the poker ecology across the entire brand in an attempt to level the playing field and ensure fairness. Numerous third-party tools are no longer permitted while active at the tables and the use of strategic material is also strictly prohibited.
This includes study tools such as popular ICM calculators, solvers, and “queuing” software used to gain an unfair advantage in the seat selection process. Virtual machines, screen sharing, and remote access software have also been banned to try and put a stop to ghosting in the online poker industry. The operator has also set its sights on ratholing and enforced buy-in obligations for its fast-forward pools.
In order to help establish a level playing field for everyone, partypoker has also introduced its personal interactive online poker coach, “My Game”.
The built-in game-tracking software is available to most users on the global partypoker platform and provides insights on key aspects of the player’s performance and tips for improvement. Hand histories can also be downloaded through the tool as well, so the player can review and analyze them while not active at the tables.
partypoker is also the only major online poker operator to mandate display of real names for nearly all its major tournaments. This typically applies to all events of the partypoker LIVE brand and the close-knit cooperation with the World Poker Tour.
