In Australia in the gaming industry we currently have a scandal with
greyhound racing.
In a nutshell, greyhound trainers have been using live animals (cats, possums, etc) as livebaits in training to increase the motivation/speed of their dogs in races. The practice is forbidden as cute furry animals are cute and furry. Enough said. The greyhound trainers have been caught out and filmed by TV crews so the s**t really hit the fan.
What is my point?
My point is that the gaming integrity regulator and the CEO of Racing (a government appointed position) have been sacked. They didn't do live baiting. They claim no awareness of live baiting. Yet they are documented doing next to no random visits of trainers to check if live baiting is occurring. They quietly looked the other way just like Pokerstars has quietly looked the other way on third party software tools and continues to quietly look the other way on seating scripts.
Gaming Integrity must not only occur but it must be seen to be occurring.
In Pokerstars case as in racing in Australia there is never an acceptable excuse. They cannot say, "We didn't understand the power of these third party software tools."
Like the CEO of Racing in QLD Australia, Pokerstars will be sacked (that is recreational gamblers simply take their money elsewhere or US regulators refuse to license Pokerstars for USA) if an integrity scandal occurs on their watch.
Bots may be a more serious risk to poker play but I contend that group-based seating scripts
approved by Pokerstars is a much more serious risk to game integrity reputation. Pokerstars cannot say, "I didn't consider that group-based seating scripts gave players an unfair advantage because I was only worried about in-game advantage." Rec players simply walk away.