Bots pose a problem, indeed. But there are many ways to deal with them. Although none offers a 100% full proof solution, combined together they form a tight barrier for cheaters. Here are some of the ‘weapons’ we have:
1. Fast games – players can choose to play fast games. These have a timeout for each turn which is shorter than the average time it takes to get a bot software’s output as to the correct move.
2. Sophisticated rating system – players who use bots and win a lot get higher ranking and less opportunities to play with weaker players. Furthermore, the ranking formula also contains the stake amount so in order to reduce ranking a player will have to lose as much money as he or she wins.
3. Anti fraud team – Our Customer Care Department has a team whose sole purpose is to detect fraudulent activity in the system. This can be fraudulent deposits (stolen credit cards, multiple accounts etc) but it also covers ranking manipulations and bot usages. Our skilled staff manually analyzes suspicious players’ playing patterns by comparing similarities to bot playing (this is easier in backgammon than poker).
I hope this helps.