'60 Minutes': Illegal but thriving Video
'60 Minutes': Illegal but thriving Video Transcript
>> We should tell you that this 18 billion dollar industry is illegal in the U.S., but the ban is almost impossible to enforce; since the Internet sites and the computers that randomly deal the cards and keep track of the bets are located offshore beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement. In unlike land-based casinos, there is almost no official regulation, enforcement, or supervision; but it hasn't stopped thousands of young men from making this their livelihood. Podd would tell us, a former computer scientist, turned Poker pro, says you no longer have to go to Vegas to find a high stakes game.
>> I hear you do it from your own living room; you don't have to get dressed; you don't have to do anything. It's right there on your computer.
>> His suspicions were first aroused in a high stakes game of Texas Hold 'Em against what he thought was an incompetent and lucky amateur using the screen name Gray Cat.
>> This Gray Cat person was new and at first he seemed like a live one. He seemed terrible. He was raising just really, really bad hands against very good hands; he seemed to play crazy. It seemed like he was giving his money away, except the only thing was he wasn't losing. He was playing in a style that was sure to lose but he was killing the game day after day.
>> We did the mathematical analysis to find that they were winning at about 15 standard deviations above the mean which is approximately equivalent to winning a one in a million jackpot six consecutive times.
>> Watch the full story Sunday on 60 minutes, then come back to CNET on Monday for more.
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