The next words are DO NOT PASS GO and do not collect $200.00, or in the case of Mr. Laurent Lakma $3 million dollars. For you may or may not have read, or heard of a gentleman called Laurent Lakma who earlier this year was found guilty of cheating at backgammon, no mean feat by all accounts but Mr. Lakma cheated.

He was charged with Grand Larceny and given a custodial sentence of ten years.
Now, although this particular report smacks of an urban myth or a very clever piece of PR there is no doubting that the prize money in backgammon has risen significantly to warrant such an attempt to cheat. Backgammon so long the preserve of the traditionalists, has evolved into sophisticated gaming and consequently attracts the trappings of all that are associated with the lifestyle. These include the professionals; former bridge or Poker players who have seen how backgammon has elevated itself beyond its humble board game beginnings and who now play openly in online competitions for big bucks. Additionally those with criminal intent also frequent those very same sites that the more bonafide players do.

So there are at some sites a rogue's galleries of cheats or hustlers who have blotted their backgammon copy books. Whilst the security measures that protect the players and sites use the latest state of the art security, when playing online it is not always possible to know who for sure you are playing, some players cheat with their statistics, to try and give themselves a lower ranking, in this way they are able to win more games and more prize money. It is almost impossible to discover this until it is too late and the game or match is lost. In the case or Mr. Lakma his particularly ruse ran to the dice, as he tried to throw yet another double in his total of over sixty double throws. It was at this point someone became suspicious and Mr. Lakma began to see his freedom evaporate.

back to the article page