The lack of transparency with which French online poker operator Winamax is alleged to have treated players in the aftermath of bot accusations has resulted in a class action being filed in the French courts by 16 players.
The players’ filing claims that the operator “failed to protect the integrity and transparency of its gaming operations” by disclosing how it calculated the compensation due to other players prejudiced by the alleged bot activity. The players are claiming damages of between Euro 10,000 and Euro 50,000 each
The case reportedly has its roots in accusations of bot play laid against two Winamax account holders – VictoriaMo and Twopandas – in June this year by Maxime ‘Batmax’ Lemaitre, who produced evidence on a player forum purporting to show that the bot activity occurred in the Winamax Expresso jackpot sit ‘n go tournaments.
Winamax immediately suspended the two accounts allegedly involved, and then invited the account holders to visit the company’s offices in Paris to play in front of experienced company experts in order to prove their innocence.
Whilst VictoriaMo agreed to the test in July and complied with its conditions, Twopandas did not.
Winamax cleared VictoriaMo of wrongdoing and allowed the player to withdraw his account balance, and closed the account of Twopandas, confiscating the balance.
In both cases the accounts were closed permanently due to the “climate of suspicion and distrust” created by the incident.
Winamax then set about addressing the question of compensation to those players prejudiced by the alleged bot activity, and over the following days “dozens” of players received reparation.
However, Winamax did not reveal how it calculated the compensation, and some players felt they had not been treated fairly. When asked for clarification regarding the calculation, Winamax allegedly refused to provide this on grounds of privacy, triggering the player legal action, initially by Lemaitre and five others, who were later joined by 10 other aggrieved players.