Every Internet user is familiar with the constant flow of Spam mixed in with the daily emails and some use ingenious dodges to get past the Spam filters that are supposed to guard our cyber gateways. Most are relatively harmless but a new approach is seeking out victims with the genetics
that may induce them to take up a gambling habit.
We are constantly urged to click onto sites that offer rewards. These can range from merchants keen to offer their wares because we have been a past customer to new businesses offering services in expanded form - and all of them usually include some sort of price reward. It is now not unusual to receive an email declaring that you are the lucky winner of a shopping spree with a value that can range from five hundred to three thousand dollars. This involves a time factor and you are urged to click on the site and claim your reward or it will pass to another person.
Those that take up this offer find themselves in the clutches of a cyber Casino. They are being offered a credit which will allow them to spend at the gambling tables, but first they will need to register and complete a dossier of personal information. It is suspected that well before this offer arrives via Spam the intended subject has been thoroughly checked by way of public records to determine that he or she is a person of "substance ". Both Facebook and Twitter are most revealing and in the present Real Estate climate anybody who either owns or has substantial equity in a house certainly passes the "substantial " test.
It seems to be an offer that is too good to be true. You are offered a sum of money with no strings attached, to try your luck at the Blackjack or Roulette tables, using virtually free money to accumulate any winnings your luck may deliver. You may even try your hand at Poker if that is more to your liking - and any winnings are yours !
Of course, this is not real money that you can hold in your hand. It is simply the balance that is in your account at the cyber Casino, and should you wish to withdraw it there will be the need to clearly establish your identity to make sure your winnings are going to the right person - and that will take time. It is amazing how difficult that can be - and while you are waiting there is always the chance of accruing more winnings. Gambling can be such an appealing sport !
Why would a Casino give away their money ? Because the balance of odds is always in favour of the house and over the long term they will win. The gambler may have a lucky streak and stack up a favourable balance, but few will resist the urge to add to their winnings and when the money pot runs dry they will top it up with their own cash. The problem is that some people are genetically disposed to gambling and while it may lay dormant, this sort of approach pops the Genie out of the bottle.
It is not illegal to give away money - and gambling in it's many forms is almost an institution in Australia. We have legal casinos in most capital cities and betting now extends from horses and greyhounds to most sporting results, not to mention the lure of daily drawn lotteries and the bonanza of Lotto in it's many configurations.
All forms of gambling are legally entitled to advertise their wares and it seems that offering free money crosses no boundaries, but there is something unethical in appealing to the baser human instincts with this free money approach. It is a lure that will attract the young and unworldly and for some it will be the fore runner of financial ruin.
Perhaps a practice that would be all the better for being removed from temptation by an act of parliament !
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