'Your livelihood is your bankroll' - be secure

ONLINE SECURITY:A SENSE of security in financial dealing is of great importance to anybody who values their money. But, for people involved in online gaming, knowing their funds are protected is of paramount importance, as in many cases their bankroll is their livelihood.

Gaming companies are fully aware of this fact and have implemented tight security measures, such as anti-hacking protections and compulsory verification, for users lodging money to their websites.

Michael Lacey of Green Joker Poker, an Irish company operating on the Ipoker network, says gaming sites are doing their level best to ensure a secure environment for their punters.

He said people now run a greater risk of having their credit card number fraudulently taken by a waiter in a restaurant than they do of losing funds to hackers in the online gaming world.

"Gaming sites operate with similar security measures to a bank. It is very difficult for people to get money on and offline using a credit card unless they can verify it is theirs. We look for photo identification, utility bills and copies of the card so we can make sure everything is above board. If people cannot provide this, the account is locked, and they cannot put money on or take money off the site until the matter is resolved," Lacey said.

In the past, instances of collusion involving two players working together to defraud their opponents have been cited by poker players. These can be difficult to prove, but gaming sites are attempting to ensure these are identified immediately.

"Anyone found to be colluding has their account suspended, they forfeit the money they won and people who have lost out are reimbursed," he said.

Daragh Thomas, a professional online poker player from Dublin, said security is of the utmost importance in his line of work. "Your livelihood is your bankroll, and if that goes you're not able to make a living.

"I have a high degree of confidence in most sites, but they are businesses and they can fail, just like a bank can, so the prudent thing to do is to spread your money across sites and keep some offline, just in case," he said.

Although the gaming sites are doing their best to prevent cheating and irregularities in online poker, Thomas said there have been some causes of concern among the poker-playing community.

"There have been instances of people managing to play on sites as a super-user, which means they can see their opponents' cards. Due to the openness of online poker, external players found out by checking hand histories, and the sites admitted they had problems but have since fixed it."

However, Thomas believes the biggest risk online poker players face lies in the security procedures they carry out on their own computer. "There have been several high profile cases of high stakes players having their computers hacked and losing a lot of money. This is not the websites' fault - it is down to the user."