“Pirate,” an out-of-work computer programmer whose real name is Brian Donahue, took the dispute public in January when he posted on the public forum on “online casino watchdog”, complaining that his accounts at and other online casinos using Realtime Gaming software had been frozen. Gambler took dispute public in early January Hampton officials did not respond to repeated interview requests.
'Pirate' declined to comment on the dispute when contacted by, citing ongoing settlement negotiations. The experts have further enlivened the discussion by weighing in with theories as to whether the gambler used a “robot” - an automatic play program that maximizes the player’s odds by eliminating mistakes - or otherwise cheated the game or was simply the victim of an unscrupulous casino operator.
The battle has been raging for more than two months on Internet gambling forums, with “Pirate” and Hampton officials regularly trading accusations, and has become the soap opera of choice for online gambling aficionados.