'60 Minutes' Poker Show to Screen Nov. 9? (Update)

November 3, 2008 (InfoPowa News) — Yet another claim, this one citing 'impeccable sources', has been made that the investigative television program '60 Minutes' will soon screen a program on poker. There has been extensive speculation on when the program will air ever since investigators for '60 Minutes' interviewed poker personalities at this year's World Series of Poker.
 
Rumors sweeping the industry claim that the program will include an expose of the UltimateBet and Absolute Poker 'hole card' scandals, featuring interviews with the player detectives who uncovered the 'insider cheating' and for which ex-WSOP champ Russell Hamilton has been blamed by an enquiry commissioned by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (see previous reports).
 
Poker Player Online reports that the new date for the screening is November 9, coinciding with interest in the 2008 WSOP Final Table playing out. It quotes poker legal consultant Wendeen Eolis as the source for this information, who herself quotes 'impeccable sources' that have apparently told her that the production staff at '60 Minutes' are currently "wrapping up critical pieces for the blockbuster program" in preparation for a screening on November 9.
 
Eolis is reported to have said, "This week's game plan for the investigative team includes a visit to Las Vegas to reel in at least one more protagonist for a sizzling interview related to the Absolute Poker story and a full throttle effort to 'catch up' with Russ Hamilton, the 1994 WSOP Main Event Champion who is allegedly at the center of the Ultimate Bet scandal."
 
Eolis notes that there is a general consensus amongst informed observers that: "['60 Minutes'] Correspondent Steve Kroft will be very well positioned and hard hitting as he methodically peels the onion on every aspect of the scandals."
 
PPO comments that Kroft is expected to " … applaud the dogged efforts of Internet players-turned poker detectives in cracking the sinister cheating schemes and forcing [AB and UB owner] Tokwiro and the regulators to take the matter seriously. It is not yet clear how much time will be allocated to the issue that unites many of the poker participants: support for legalized online gaming in an environment that is appropriately taxed and regulated."