An Inside Look on How WPT Global and A5 Labs Ensure Game Integrity in Online Poker
In a recent interview with PokerNews, Alex Scott, President of WPT Global, and John Andress, Head of Game Integrity at A5 Labs, shared insights into how their collaboration helps maintain the integrity of online poker games.
They discussed the structure and functions of their security team, the technologies they used, and their proactive approach to detecting and preventing cheating.
Throughout the conversation, WPT Global and A5 Labs detailed how they collaborate to create a secure and fair gaming environment on the platform.
The WPT Global Security Team
Alex Scott explained the structure and responsibilities of the Game Integrity team at WPT Global, highlighting that the team comprised data analysts, poker experts, and former professional players. This team, consisting of around 50 people working in shifts, monitored the alert and reporting system 24/7. Their primary task was to detect and prevent cheating of all kinds. Scott elaborated that their job involved building cases that were then escalated to the analyst and management team, composed of former poker pros or senior industry experts.
Scott noted, "We measure this team’s success a little differently from the other places I’ve worked in the past. Instead of incentivizing the team based on how much money they seize, accounts they close, or cheaters they detect, we measure how successful cheaters are on WPT Global. Can cheaters sustain a positive win rate? If they do win, can they get that illicitly gained money out of the system? Our goal is for our prevention techniques to be so good that anybody attempting to cheat loses money."
Scott also emphasized the collaborative relationship with A5 Labs, which was responsible for developing the necessary tools for detecting and preventing cheating. The team at WPT Global worked closely with A5 Labs, providing feedback to improve these tools continuously. This partnership included part-time consultants who were active community members and regulars in high-stakes games, ensuring the tools were effective and up-to-date with the latest cheating tactics. "For me, as a passionate poker player for many years, this is one of the most fascinating parts of the business; there is so much interesting work done on John’s team," Scott added.
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A5 Labs’ Role and Technology
A5 Labs is WPT Global's exclusive poker platform provider. It's responsible for developing the security tools used to ensure fair play and integrity in online poker games.
John Andress detailed the composition and focus of the A5 Labs team, which included domain experts, developers, data scientists, and AI researchers. Over the past few years, their main focus has been building gameplay models that leveraged Machine Learning and Deep Learning technologies for security applications. This advanced technology aimed to automate manual detection processes and provide unique, quantifiable insights to the WPT Global team, allowing them to accurately identify and resolve cases before bad actors could profit.
Andress explained, "Our goal with this work is to automate manual detection processes and provide our team with unique, quantifiable insights from our models so that they can accurately identify and resolve cases before bad actors can profit."
The Investigation Process
Describing the investigation process, Scott explained that when security agents received an alert or report, they started by building a case and aggregating the necessary supporting evidence. This case is then reviewed by an escalation manager with domain expertise for final refinement. Depending on the findings, actions such as giving a warning, contacting the player, locking the account, or rejecting the case could be recommended. For severe actions like account closure or confiscation, the case was reviewed by at least two escalation managers. Scott highlighted the importance of maintaining communication with the customer during this process, allowing them the opportunity to appeal and provide clarifications.
Scott stated, "The case is always reviewed by at least two escalation managers if the recommended action is account closure or confiscation. It’s important to note that any time an account is locked, the team immediately starts to discourse with the customer so that they can appeal the decision and provide clarifications about evidence in the case."
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Detection vs. Customer Reports
Andress mentioned that automated systems proactively identified more than 99% of issues. However, detailed reports or evidence from customers and community members have also led to some of the most impactful cases. This collaboration with whistleblowers was crucial in identifying and acting against bad actors.
"The overwhelming majority of issues are proactively identified by automated systems (more than 99%). That being said, when customers or community members work with the team to provide detailed reports or evidence about game integrity issues, the hit rate is very high. Some of the most impactful cases have come from working with whistleblowers to identify bad actors on the network," Andress said.
Transparency in Cheating Investigations
Scott acknowledged the desire for transparency regarding the number of accounts closed for cheating and the amount of money reimbursed to affected players. However, this information is not yet public because WPT Global is part of a poker network that shares liquidity with other operators. Scott assured that they were working on a solution to share this information in the future.
"We’re not ready to make this information public yet because WPT Global is part of a poker network that shares liquidity with other operators, and this affects them too. That said, we definitely want to be more transparent about this, and we’re working on something that we’ll share in the future," Scott explained.
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Common Cheating Methods
Andress stressed the importance of distinguishing between cheating and policy violations. Policy violations, such as using a VPN, generally did not harm other customers but were enforced due to regulatory requirements. Conversely, cheating directly harmed the player pool and included collusion, using bots or real-time assistance, and chip dumping. Andress pointed out that policy violations like VPN use and bonus abuse were more common than cheating, but WPT Global aggressively policed integrity violations to ensure bad actors did not profit.
"It’s important to separate these issues into cheating (game integrity) and policy violations. Generally, policy violations, such as using a VPN, do not harm other customers, but operators have to enforce these policies due to regulatory or AML requirements or simply to protect the business against fraud. Game Integrity violations directly harm the player pool and include breaches like collusion, using bots or real-time assistance, and chip dumping (especially in tournaments)," Andress explained.
Bot Detection Confidence
Scott drew an analogy between the confidence in preventing bots and preventing car theft or bank hacking. While it was impossible to guarantee that no bots were running on the site, WPT Global's proactive prevention system, developed in collaboration with A5 Labs, made it extremely difficult for bots to be successful. Scott emphasized that the effectiveness of their policing ensured that people attempting to use bots would ultimately lose money and be caught, with their funds distributed to affected players.
Scott elaborated, "How confident can you be that nobody will steal your car from outside your home? How confident can you be that nobody will hack into your online banking? We all know that these things happen occasionally, but it doesn’t stop us from owning cars or using our online banking apps. In any healthy, well-functioning society, there are bad actors. We rely on effective policing to make our society a better place, and the same principles apply to online poker."
He continued, "To say that ‘there are no bots running on the site’ would be dishonest. Nobody can say that. We police our games very well, however, and that should give you confidence in WPT Global. What’s important is - whether the people trying to use bots on WPT Global are successful. Do they win money, and can they get that money out of the system?"
Andress added that any operator claiming there were no bots on their platform either did not understand the problem or was being dishonest. He underscored the importance of quickly identifying new problems through advanced technologies that utilized behavioral and gameplay signals via machine learning-based detection. This approach aimed to make it unprofitable for players to use bots or real-time advisors.
"If any operator claims that there is no one using bots or real-time advisors (RTA) on their platform, then they do not understand the evolution of the problem, or they are being dishonest. For us, it is crucial to work to provide solutions that allow the security team to quickly identify new problems as they arise so that we can prevent it from happening at scale, which ultimately can make games unbeatable for normal customers," Andress noted.
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Reporting Cheating
Scott encouraged players to report any suspicions of foul play via email or the in-client reporting feature. He mentioned a bounty program, Rewarding Integrity in Poker (RIP), which paid out cash to players who helped catch cheats by providing verifiable evidence that led to confiscation.
"If you have any suspicions of foul play, simply email our security team ([email protected]) or use the in-client reporting feature directly from the table. Note that we have a bounty program (Rewarding Integrity in Poker, aka. RIP) that pays out cash to players that help us to catch cheats by providing verifiable evidence that leads to confiscation," Scott explained.
Cheating and T&C
Scott concluded by referencing the detailed ‘Prohibited Activity List’ in WPT Global's T&C. This list included all usual forms of cheating and took a stricter stance on third-party software than some other poker sites. Only software that organized or resized tables was allowed, while HUDs, trackers, seating tools, strategy tools, or advisers interacting with WPT Global were prohibited.
"We have a detailed ‘Prohibited Activity List’ in our T&C, which can be found here. All the usual forms of cheating are not allowed, but we also take a harsher stance than some other poker sites on third-party software. The only software that is allowed is software that organizes or resizes tables. Everything else - HUD, trackers, seating tools, strategy tools, or advisers - is prohibited if it interacts with WPT Global in any way."
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