Joe Ingram’s Claims of Sexual Harassment and Sales Scams Disputed

The cellphone charger and headphone salesmen at the Rio World Series of Poker 2018 must be stopped. Verbal and sexual harassment that has been going on since the first day of the WSOP 2018 cannot go on any longer!

That’s how Joe Ingram started his investigation video this week into the practices of some of the vendors players meet every time they walk into the Rio playing halls…

Mark Agarunov, owner of iGadget Plant which has been providing the stalls for several years hit back at Ingram’s claims, stating of the sexual harassment claims:

“It’s lies, 100 percent. If one of my employees did something wrong, then I will be happy to place a report with the police about it.”

Ingram also claims that players are being charged way over the odds for the products, as much as 2000% markup in some cases, and that the companies involved in the selling use fake websites to support their pricing, an allegation denied by Agarunov.

“Most people are happy with the products,” Agarunov said, explaining that Ingram used 2010 products in his video to highlight problems when in fact his own company’s products are up-to-date – iGadget Planet only selling at the WSOP in the Rio for the past four years.

Ingram’s Twitter post received a lot of attention, many supporting his approach to outing the vendors…

…but Agarunov hit back, admitting his vendors were:

“Aggressive maybe, and we’ve taken action about that. We’ve spoken with our employees and are trying to be less aggressive,” but was staunch in defence of his workforce, stating categorically: “We’re trying to control everything the right way. But about sexual harassment … no sexual harassment.”

Ingram’s recent change from poker podcast Mr Nice Guy to ‘Investigative Papi’ righting the wrongs of the poker world is to be applauded – his recent ACR investigation an excellent example of great journalism, but some are concerned that his scattergun approach to the vendor issues has tarred too many innocent people…

…and although some claimed to have purchased defective gear, Agarunov explained that players are given a warranty for all products adding that he is considering legal action against Ingram for his video.

With the YouTube video garnering 130k+ views in just a few days, the likes and dislikes showed 1.1k positive and 2k negative for Ingram’s investigation, something he claims was an obvious ‘bot’ attack…

…but despite Ingram’s claims otherwise, there were more than a few comments in support of the vendors, although this one sounded like a problem at first:

“I purchased a charger from them last year. As soon as I paid the guy 2 or 3 hundred bucks he winked at me. At that point I knew I may have been fucked…"

.…until the poster added:

“Still got the charger though, and it works fine even after dropping in on cement a few times. It is solar powered and works well.”

Hopefully those responsible for any bad behaviour have been dealt with appropriately, and those just trying to make a living keep the standards up to what we would expect from poker’s premier event of the year.