Ding Ding Ding! Video Poker ‘Hackers’ Cleared of Federal Charges

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unokitty

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Jan 5, 2012
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Kevin Poulsen
Article in Wired
Two gamblers who took advantage of a software bug to win a small fortune from casino video poker machines will enjoy Thanksgiving without the threat of federal prison hovering over them like a carving knife. A federal judge in Las Vegas this morning dismissed federal charges against the men, ending a nearly two-year-long legal battle over when beating the house becomes a crime.

John Kane, now 55, was arrested in July 2009 at the Silverton Casino Lodge after the casino noticed suspicious play on one of their video poker machines. An avid gambler, according to his attorney, it turned out Kane had discovered a firmware bug in IGT’s Game King machine that allowed him to effectively play back a prior winning hand at ten times the original value;

In January 2011, federal prosecutors in Las Vegas charged the men with computer fraud and wire fraud, arguing that the complex sequence of button presses needed to activate the bug made it a form of hacking....


Win at video poker. Federal Government charges you with computer hacking. When that charge doesn't stick, Fed's charge you with fraud.

Two years later, Fed's decide that they can't make the fraud charge stick either.

What's the cost of freedom?

What the cost of hiring an attorney for a two year court battle with the Federal Government?

Uno
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
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I'm glad to see they have been cleared but yikes - legal battles aren't cheap. It seems to me the threat of the costs to fight a legal battle are being used as coercion and that is concerning
 

Paul98

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Jan 31, 2010
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Yeah and people who crash the economy and steal billions from millions of people, ask them for advice so it doesn't happen again....
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
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Glad the Feds are done with this... now they can focus on the illegal raw milk problem.
 
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