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Scientists develop fraud detector for online casinos

Researchers at the University of Buffalo in New York State have developed new software which can help to weed out online fraudsters.

Websites will be able to use the program to build up a profile of the way their members play games so that if someone has their account stolen, it can be easily spotted, the New Scientist reports.

Roman Yampolskiy and Venu Govindaraju invented the "gambling DNA" technology, which may have been of use last month when poker professional and World Poker Tour winner Jonathan Little was caught sharing his account with other people.

The software is said to be approximately 80 per cent accurate, although the degree increases the more times someone plays a game such as poker.

As well as being able to detect account theft and account sharing, the program should also be able to spot those who are using software or bots to play games for them.