Stories tagged gambling

Some harmless geeks: At play in their natural habitat. They only become aggressive to "norms" when online. (photo courtesy of Benimoto on flickr.com)AbsolutePoker.com, a Costa Rica-based company owned by members of the Canadian Kahnawake Mohawk tribe, found itself in some hot water recently, when its supposedly secure system was hacked, allowing a particular player to see his or her opponents’ cards in high-stakes, no-limit Texas holdem tournaments.

Or AbsolutePoker.com would have been in hot water, if the perpetrator had been an actual criminal, instead of a “geek.”

Yes, in a recent statement to the press, an AbsolutePoker spokesman reassured players that the criminal party was “literally” just “a geek.”

This must have come as quite a relief to the holdem tournament’s other players. Even though the geek’s winnings are estimated between $400,000 and $700,000, it was no doubt reassuring to find out that they are cooler than he is, and could probably beat him up, if given the opportunity.

In their initial statement regarding the situation, AbsolutePoker denied the possibility of cheating, and chalked everything up to luck, claiming that there was “no evidence that [their] redundant and varying levels of game client security were compromised,” and, furthermore, that “it is impossible for any player or employee to see whole cards as was alleged.” This response was clearly made before they considered the possibility that the user in question may not have been a normal person, but could have been, in fact, a geek, and well versed in all sorts of nerdy stuff.

Much to the chagrin of Dungeons & Dragons merchandisers across the country, AbsolutePoker claims that none of the ill-gotten money was withdrawn from the cheating user’s accounts

Tags : computers, technology, cheating, geek, gambling, online gambling, excuses excuses

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Gambling addiction is a serious problem: Photo by MarkyBon via Flickr Creative Commons.A new study at the University of Minnesota has shown favorable signs that an amino acid, easily available as a health food supplement, may curb the pathological urge to gamble in some subjects.

“It looks very promising,” said Jon Grant, a University of Minnesota associate professor of psychiatry and the study’s principal investigator.

Twenty-seven subjects were administered increasing doses of the amino acid known as N-acetyl cysteine during the two-month trial. N-acetly cysteine acts on the chemical glutamate - often linked with reward in the brain – and is commonly sold under the name NAC at health food store. When it ended, 60 percent of the study’s subjects reported reduction in their urges to gamble.

Most of the participants from the original study then agreed to continue into a second phase that went for another six weeks. Phase two of the study, however, was a double-blinded, meaning neither subjects nor researchers knew who was in the control group.

That time around 83 percent of those who were given the supplement reported fewer urges to gamble, while more than 71 percent of those given placebos returned to gambling.

It was the first time a glutamate-modulating agent was used in treating gambling addiction. The results of Grant’s research will appear in the upcoming issue of Biological Psychiatry.

“This research could be encouraging for a lot of addictions,” he said.

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Tags : amino acid, health, addiction, mental health, gambling

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