The Story: Russian Bots vs American Gamblers
TechStuff
iHeartPodcasts
4.3 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 10 September 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, we’re all in. Oz chats with Kit Chellel, a Bloomberg writer who focuses on gambling, technology, and sports betting. He wrote an article about a secret Russian bot farm that infiltrated the world of online poker in the early 2000s. We follow Kit from Siberia to Armenia, and get a peek into just how bots can make or break the future of online poker.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:18.0 | Welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm Os Voloshin, here with Kara Price, and this is the story. |
| 0:23.2 | Hello, Oz. |
| 0:24.5 | Hello, Kara. One of my favorite memories that we have together was a trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas in January 2020. |
| 0:34.9 | And we went to the panels, we spoke on a panel, but where I really saw you |
| 0:39.3 | come alive was on the casino floor. Not at CES on the casino floor. I hadn't known until |
| 0:46.9 | that point that you were quite a, you know, passionate gambler. That's a euphemism for degenerate, |
| 0:52.6 | but yes, I am. I'm not a degenerate gambler. I dabble in |
| 0:56.3 | gambling and blackjack is my sport. When did you get into it? My mom liked to gamble and so |
| 1:02.0 | she taught me how to play blackjack and I've always loved blackjack just for the high highs |
| 1:06.7 | and the low lows of it. I only get to supervise your behavioural more in person, |
| 1:11.7 | but how much do you play on your phone? |
| 1:13.9 | I do play online blackjack, but not for money. |
| 1:16.7 | Just for fun. |
| 1:17.5 | Just for fun. |
| 1:18.4 | Well, today's story is actually all about how digital blackjack, |
| 1:24.3 | poker, other casino games have just gone crazy and been booming online for the last |
| 1:30.9 | few years. And our guest today, Bloomberg reporter Kit Chalelle, has been looking into why. |
| 1:36.7 | In the last five, six, seven years, it has taken over the entire world. And the reason for that |
| 1:42.2 | is a combination of obviously obviously, enormous demand. |
| 1:46.1 | The idea that you can just gamble by reaching into your pocket and pulling out a smartphone is |
| 1:51.3 | quite appealing. But also regulatory changes, I think online gambling, gambling anywhere 50 years ago |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.