An EBU Disciplinary Committee recently considered the following charges against Kevin Colling (BBO Username - KevinPC) at a hearing in April.
• That when he played and directed in online games on the Bridgebase Online (“BBO”) platform organised by the English Bridge Union and others, he had knowledge of some aspects of each other’s hands obtained by using his directorial access to his advantage..
• He took advantage of this information to make calls and plays which he was unlikely to have made had he not known the layout of the hands, to the benefit of his bridge scores in those sessions. There was no suggestion that his partners were complicit in these actions.
The defendant admitted the charge. A disciplinary hearing was held and the Disciplinary Committee found the charges proved to their comfortable satisfaction, and that the defendant’s conduct constituted an offence under paragraph 3.2(iv) of the EBU Disciplinary Rules, being unfair or dishonest play. They considered the mitigation offered.
The Committee imposed a sanction of suspension of EBU membership for a period of 24 months.
April 12, 2021