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Hi jcc1 - welcome to ThePOGG.com!

I would agree with you that this sounds very suspect. Before I do anything though, I need you to provide some information.

Was this SkyBook you were playing on?

What video poker version were you playing?

When were you playing?

What stake were you playing?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Thank you for your prompt response.  I would like to send you screenshots of my entire history for the day.  Where can I email them?  Also, do you have an affiliate arrangement with Skybook, Bet Phoenix or any of their brand?

Hi jcc1,

You can email them to webmaster@thepogg.com.

And to answer your question, we are in no way affiliated with any of the brands in this group. As you can see here - http://thepogg.com/blacklisted-casinos/ - this group are already on our Blacklist. Any casino listed in the Blacklist or Not Recommended sections of the site we do not link to, send traffic to or earn any money with.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Please do not make any overtures to the company without discussing it with me first.  I will email you screen shots later of my play including every hand/spin/deal.

In these types of situations it's not wise to let anyone at the affected venues know until far further down the line. Right now all I'm looking to see is if there is an issue.

ThePOGG

2 Ways Royal Video Poker is where I noticed irregularities:

Double Up results (should be 50/50 since it's just picking 2 cards)
3 wins, 18 losses, 5 pushes

Hand Results from 560 hands:
348 no hand
122 high pair
90 2 pairs
NO 3 of a kinds
NO straights
NO flushes
NO full houses
NO 4 of a kinds

Assuming I played all 560 hands perfectly, (which I didn't, but was probably close) I should have gotten approximately:

306.14 no hand
120.30 high pair
72.11 2 pairs
41.45 3 of a kinds
6.33 straights
5.86 flushes
6.42 full houses
1.32 4 of a kinds
and probably no straight flushes or royal flushes

I'm sending 129 Screenshots via wetransfer (check your email for a link).

Hi jcc1,

Just to warn you that this is going to take me a little time to go through. I'm only looking at the 2 Ways Royal screenshots, of which there are 58, and I'm going through them one at a time extracting the game history information on to a spreadsheet to allow me to make better use of the data. This is time consuming. I've spent about 6 hours at this today and I'm less that halfway. 

I'll get back to you once I've finished transferring the information and reviewed the data.

ThePOGG

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this.  Hopefully your time investment will lead to something positive for the industry as a whole and other players, regardless of whether I get anything out of it or not.

Hi jcc1,

I've finished (after another 10 hours of work) getting your game history into a workable format. I've run a few tests and the result are good or not good depending on your perspective.

If I'm right then both the main game and the double feature have NOT been operating fairly. You have been cheated and looking at the game history you have been unfairly taken for a large sum of money.

Before you do ANYTHING, stop. There's a lot still to do before I take this any further.

Firstly, I want to get my calculation doubled checks by some associates of mine to ensure I've drawn the right conclusions. I want to be 100% sure about this before taking it anywhere.

Secondly I want you to withdraw any funds you have left in Skybook or their associated properties IMMEDIATELY. Do not say ANYTHING about any of this, if asked simply say you need the funds elsewhere. I will not be speaking to anyone until you confirm that you've received these funds.

Thirdly I need you to download Camtasia studio (http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html) and make a video for me. This piece of software has a 30 day free trial so won't cost you anything. I need you to make a video of you going to the SkyBook website, accessing their casino client, logging in, going to your account history and scrolling through the Two Ways Royal history one page at a time staying on each page 5-10s. Before you do this, on the record bar (after you've clicked 'Record the Screen') I need you to click on 'Tools', 'Options', 'Inputs' and 'Video Settings' and make sure the 'Screen capture frame rate' is set to 30. 

The purpose of this video is to make an indisputable copy of the play history. Screen shots can easily be modified and as such can be called into question. It's far harder to fake a video in this manner and as such doesn't leave any room for the casino to challenge the integrity of the claims.

Fourthly I want to conduct my own tests of this game. This will again take time but what I'm looking to show is whether this issue is always in place, or is intermittent (switched on and off by casino staff or by some pre-defined trigger).

Lastly I want to talk to a couple of respected industry types that have dealt with this type of issue before on this software.

Assuming that I can verify all of the above, I'm unsure of the chances of me getting your money back. This isn't a good group and they've been found with these types of issues in the past. I will do whatever I can to get your funds returned but if this group insist on a non-disclosure contract before they'll return your funds I'll be unable to comply with this. While I do want to do right by you, if the work I've done has drawn the right conclusions then it is very important that the playing community in general are made aware of this so more players don't get caught out. More than that, by signing a non-disclosure contract I'd be making myself an accomplice to their criminal activity. My top priority has to be making sure that this information (excluding your personal details) becomes public knowledge. 

If that does happen I will do whatever I can to see you right, but as this is a large sum of money it's unlikely that this will happen quickly.

I want to stress that if we're to have any success what-so-ever with this type of issue EVERYTHING has to be dealt with in the proper order and fashion, so please do not take any actions without talking to me first.

ThePOGG

I sent files via wetransfer.  I forgot to scroll down on one page of the history (to show the last 2 hands) so I added a second, shorter video.  Let me know if I need to re-do the whole process.  I included the blackjack hand history as well, even though the results aren't statistically significant.

The withdrawal process will take AT LEAST 5 weeks.  Maximum check withdrawals are $2k, once a week.  I'll request the first check tomorrow.

Hi jcc1,

I'm having trouble with the videos - I can't get them to play. Could you try uploading them to YouTube as a Private video and invite me to view the video (email thepogg1@gmail.com)?

I need to make sure they're clear enough that we can make out the results.

As to the delays that's not a problem. First priority has to be to ensure the rest of your money is safe. As Skybook only accept US players I'm going to have to make some arrangements for additional testing anyway.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

I think it has to do with the media format used by the screen recorder program.  I had trouble viewing the videos with VLC player, but it worked for me with Windows Media player. I'll upload them to YouTube now.

The videos are UNLISTED, which means anyone with the links can watch them, but they will not appear in search results.  Make sure you set the quality to HD.

http://youtu.be/u8gbC5pom3Y
http://youtu.be/Kupxt-lgM3U

Hi jcc1,

I've reviewed the videos and they do suit our purpose, however I've found YouTube to be an unreliable partner for hosting such information. I agree our difficulties with the file transfer may have been to do with the format of the video. Before production of a video within Camtasia you can select the file format to be produced. Could you take the initial files and reproduce them as an mp4 file?

We've recently lost a lot of videos due to YouTube's arbitrary decision to close an account. Despite repeated requests YouTube would not even grant access to allow us to move the videos elsewhere. With a case like this we obviously want to ensure against that happening so having a copy stored on my own computer would be vastly preferable.

I'm still trying to get a US friend to test the game for me. Have you had any success submitting your first withdrawal?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

I made two withdrawal requests -- one check and one moneygram.  I can put upload the videos to vimeo.  I'm not exactly sure how but I can probably convert them to mp4.

Hi jcc1,

I've managed to contact a friend in the US who should be able to carry out the testing for me, though they will not be in a position to do so until early February.

Have you had any success converting those video files?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

I sent you MP4 versions of the files via wetransfer.  Please confirm you got them and were able to play them.

Hi jcc1,

I've got the files on hard disk now. They are crystal clear. Have you had any success receiving any withdrawals so far?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

This message has been on their site for about a week:

"Dear Customer: 
Starting January 22, 2015, our Live Casino platform will be changed in order to offer you the best live casino experience. New exciting games such as Multi-hand Blackjack and Texas Hold'em will now be available! Our beautiful dealers will be waiting for you at the tables!"

Hi jcc1,

The changes to the Live Casino should not make any difference to this case. Their Video Poker games are not part of the 'Live' casino and even if removed we have the game logs to prove that this issue did occur while they were running.

Have you have any success cashing out your funds?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Hi jcc1,

How are you getting on with removing your current balance?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

I've gotten a lot of the money out.  My current balance remaining there is $3773.  I'll keep making withdrawals.

Hi jcc1,

Thanks for that update - it's good to see your money is (slowly) being returned to you.

ThePOGG

From now on I'm only going to play at casinos and sportsbooks that accept BTC.

I would be very careful about choosing casinos that accept BitCoins - it's recently come out that a good number of them have been using stolen games.

ThePOGG

Hi jcc1,

Have you managed to withdraw the rest of your funds?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Hi jcc1,

Thanks for the update - just let me know when you've got the last of it and I'll move forward with this.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Hi jcc1,

How much is left to withdraw?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

I officially have a ZERO BALANCE at Skybook.  Thanks for your patience.

Hi jcc1,

Thanks for the update. I prepared a report on this yesterday which I'm currently having checked before I contact SkyBook.

Could you provide me with your username and the emails address you use at SkyBook?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

username [EDIT]
email address used: [EDIT]

Hi jcc1,

I'm now speaking to both Skybook and their software provider Amigotechs. I have been informed by Skybook that they will be contacting you today, beyond that I have no further information.

I do expect to spend a lot more time talking to them regarding this issue over the next few days and will keep you updated as and when I know more about their intentions. I would very much appreciate it if you would forward any communication with Skybook management to webmaster@thepogg.com.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Hi jcc1,

Did Skybook contact you yesterday?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Nope... nothing from them at the email address [EDIT]

Hi jcc1,

Here's the situation;

Both Skybook and Amigotechs were informed on Tuesday that I intend to publish a report on your game history on Friday the 10th of April (tomorrow) and were provided with a copy of the report and conclusions at that time. My hope had been that they would at least set in motion plans to repay your losses before then.

The report is extremely critical and essentially concludes that as two separate games (the main VP game and the double feature), that would run on code independent of each other have both shown impossible distributions that this is highly likely to be an intentional rig rather than accidental coding error.

I'm sorry to say this, but in all likelihood the publication of that report will substantially damage any chances you have of having your losses returned. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this and I have to put the interest of other players who could be similarly abused ahead of retrieving your funds. As such publishing a report and trying to make as many player's aware of these issue is the right thing to do.

I do feel that's entirely unfair to you - you asked for my help and instead I've taken the information you've provided me and failed to deliver a response that was in your best interests.

As such if Skybook are not showing any indication of repaying your losses by the 20th of April, I will repay them personally. The total lost over your playing session was $7150. I'm afraid to say that's a substantial sum of money to me and not one I can afford to provide you with immediately. If Skybook do not repay your losses I would ask your patience and I will look to repay you in monthly instalments of $500-$1000 depending on the financial performance of ThePOGG.com in the relevant month.

I hope the above is an acceptable solution to you.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Hi jcc1,

Just to keep you in the loop - there have been some issues today that have prevented me publishing the planned article. Namely, this site was hacked in the early hours of this morning and for much of the day all traffic coming to the site was being redirected back to Google.

I find the timing of this hack oddly coincidental with the planned publication of the article, but beyond the timing I have no reason to suspect the two events are in any way connected.

I've had to spend a lot of time today dealing with this issue.

It's now late on Friday evening I don't feel that now's the best time for publication. I do want this to get the maximum amount of exposure and many of the people running the sites that I would hope to contact about this issue will be offline for the weekend. As such I'm going to hold of on publication until Monday.

ThePOGG

Hi jcc1,

I've communicated extensively with Skybook and their software provide Amigotechs over the course of this week (you can see the conversation here - http://thepogg.com/conversations-with-amigotechs/).

Reportedly, Skybook have been trying to reach you by both phone and email without success. They are now looking to return your losses. As such you need to get in contact with them now. 

As this complaint is now in the public domain I don't want to give personal details out I'm not going to say this directly, but you should expect to receive communication from the CEO of Amigotechs, a woman with initials NH over the course of today.

If you need my help at any point please don't hesitate to get in contact and it would be very much appreciated if you could confirm the arrangement that's reached.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

A Video Poker game at Skybook casino has been confirmed to have operated in an non-fair fashion. The Double-Up feature included.

This issue is too complex to be dealt with within the complaint framework. As such we've compiled a complete report on this complaint which can be found at http://thepogg.com/skybook-cheating-video-poker-amigotechs-software/.
 
 
 (uses virtual.cdncasino.ag)
 
 played 500+ hands of single hand video poker
 no 3 of a kind (should occur every 14 hands)
 no flush
 no straight
 no 4 of a kind
 no royal flush
 no straight flush
 
 on the "double up," I lost every single time (except for a few pushes).

SkyBook - non random casino

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