Compulsive winning - passive gambling streaks and what they're worth.

[Xyvous]

Dear Gamblers,

I have some questions and hope this community can help me clear them up.

When it comes to gambling I take the recreational seat, it’s a known fact amongst my peers that I have an exceptionally high risk tolerance in all areas of my life but as it pertains to gambling I wouldn't consider it a problem just yet.

As a matter of happenstance online casinos made an entry into my life a few weeks ago, when due to circumstances I was stuck in a house during a long weekend with nothing but a computer and an incredibly fast internet connection. As you may have guessed, beginners luck made her graceful presence known.

I would judge my educational background in areas related to mathematics at a reasonable level. Taking that into consideration, any digital games were never even momentarily considered - I would rather use my money as firestarter. The  only games of any interest to me were the live dealers, which seem to be the new fad in online gaming.

I want to clarify first off that I wasn't in any way attempting to be industrious in my gaming. I had no inclination of aggressively beating the house, none of this "21(Movie)" foolishness.. I just wanted to enjoy playing at a  relatively fair game.

In my first sitting I deposited three sets of $300 into one of the more prominent online casinos. The first two deposits I extinguished relatively quickly, finding my footing in the different games and the rules, etc. The last $300  deposit I played into $24,000 within around 8 hours. It did not seem particularly difficult, and I’ll pass it off as beginners luck.... Of course we all know how this plays out now; I never expected the casino to pay out anyways so my  small fortune was luxuriously spent in substance-assisted* $2,000 - $10,000 roulette spins and equally large Black jack hands.

My next sitting I decided to try a new casino, depositing a little over $1000. I played it to $7000 within a few hours, attempted to withdraw $5000 -> came to my senses, canceled the withdrawal -> played it up to $20,000, again. And  again, the same story of hedonistic waste.. once building up a big balance got boring the fun stuff began with the enormous bets and multi-thousand dollar dealer tips (some of the live dealers were pretty).

I feel I should mention the presence of substances because lets face it, gambling really isn't that fun folks, that is unless you are doing it in Charlie Sheen style on a enormous flatscreen with tiger blood in your veins. Possibly without using drugs I would have realized that the money was actually worth something and not been so willing to give it right back. But, without being intoxicated I wouldn’t have been gambling in the first place and would never have 
been in the position to decide.

So, I'm also passing this second time off as beginners luck as well... These past two experiences are not really of any concern to me. My real question is about my third session.

In my third weekend of not having much to do outside of the house, the resident dealer made his visit and after some phone calls and switching through the TV, I made my customary deposit into an online casino. I was tired, and only deposited $50 this time... Skipping over much of the exciting events that soon followed, precisely 9 hours later I had well over $38,000 in my cashier. I hadn't really taken the time to compute I that I had just made nearly the price of a BMW in the space of an evening, and it really didn't mean much to me anyways since I seem to have this notion that I would never be able to withdraw it or actually get paid. I will clarify again that through the entirety of my gaming session I had deposited a total of $50.

I did what any rational person would do and continued to waste my winnings on elaborate bets and fun-ness. I realized there was a transfer feature to other players and even gave out some donations to other players at my table.

But, I didn't spend it all. Tiredness got the better of me and I eventually called it a night with a small balance remaining. .
-----------

Now, looking back after a good sleep, coffee, and a healthy dose of sunlight and fresh air I'm starting to think that in this last instance I should have at least tried to get a portion of my winnings out..
The casino had some major technical issues and messed up big time on some very expensive hands, so I still have those incidents being checked out by the technical staff. Interestingly you could say that a small portion of my winnings are saved in those defected hands. They should get back to me in a few days.  But unfortunately, as with the withdrawals, I'm quite sure I already know the outcome of those incident tickets. They'll likely be handled by a paper-pusher and not given a second notice, with a kind pre-scripted reply in a day or two informing me that unfortunately their program is flawless and its simply my imagination that their software is malfunctioning.

I don't have high expectations from the online casino in that sense, although I would appreciate if they can realize that I have had the opportunity to at least attempt to withdraw over $30,000... whether or not I would actually get it remains a mystery.

I guess my question in all of this is if anyone here has had a similar experience to mine. Particularly the somewhat unrealistic winning streaks I seem to encounter. I see people posting here about winning $1,000 or $2,000 as if its something magical and I'm starting to wonder if I had just been extraordinarily lucky.. Is playing $50 into $38,000 something worth writing a article about or publishing the playing record, etc?

On a second note, if anyone has any suggestions as to how to deal with the casino regarding the techinal incidents that would be appreciated. The total for all the games escalated to the technical department is a sizeable chunk, and there is every reason why they would try to avoid paying it. I've turned over more than a million dollars in round trip bets in their casino and they don't even give me free chips or games anymore. Anyone playing at my level in a real casino would have a free limo pickup, room, etc.. So I'm starting to feel the cold shoulder side of the casino industry...

It will be interesting to see what you guys think.

Cheers,

~~~~~

[ValDes]

First of all, welcome to the AskGamblers forum!

 

Secondly, there's no need to publish one and the same topic in more than one place!

 

And thirdly... I really don't know where to start from. You have managed to make $38 000 from just a single deposit of $50?!?!? And you are wondering why people are posting here about winning $1,000 or $2,000 as if its something magical?! Well, let me tell you why. It is because what you have done is not just something extremely rare and highly unusual, but it is once in a lifetime and we all here dream for such a run at a casino! Simple as that! And you had just blew it down all the way, just like that?! Unbelievable....

 

Now, allow me to share a few observations and advices with you.

1) There's nothing recreational in placing bets of hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a single bet! Unless you are a millionaire! You are either a professional, or completely nuts! Your choice!

2) Combining online gambling with any other type of "inspiration", like drugs or alchohol for example, is a perfect recipe for a disaster! Don't do that again.

3) If you had played at a reputable and honest casino, I think you still have a decent chance to get some of the losses back, in case there was a real problem of course.

4) If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't even touch online gambling again, until some good reading and learning was done! Starting from some of the guides in my signature is probably a good idea.

 

Let me know if you need further assistance.

[bogdangy]

Personally I dont think that it is possible to win $38000 from only $50 deposit!Cant be true!

[Xyvous]

Valdes, thanks for being the first to reply.

 

The reason for the two posts were that I accidently posted in the wrong secion with the first one.

 

In response to your third paragrahp; please don't misunderstnad me here, I was not meaning to belittle the $1-2k wins. My intention was to find if other online gamblers where having simiar experiences as mine. Although now that I think of it, this forum wouldn't be the most likely place to find them.

 

As for 1), and 2), yes - definitely. That's common sense for someone aspiring to be a professional or at least a skilled gambler. In my situation however neither of thoses are my goals.

 

3) Yes, they were two of the most reputable casinos in the entire industry. I am already filiing a dispute against the first one and I'm afriad the relationship with the second is becoming sour..

Natrually, as I expected, their relpy to my problems was; 

 

"The technical team also confirmed that there were no issues reported and no problem was found during that time of that games."

"Due to these findings, I am truly sorry but a refund is not due."

 

This is the third email in which I have received these exact words... I have escalated a total of 6 technical incidents totalling more than $6,000..

Thankfully there are some small threads of leverage granted to player, so my next step will likely be to bring up the issues with the ombudsman, and barring being successful I will file a Section-75 or Chargeback with Visa.

 

4) You're right. But not because of the way you mean. Unfortuanetly for the honest brands in the industry(if there are any), I will most likely stop gambling online altogether - not at all because I want ot read books and learn how to be a better gambler(This was never my intent, this is purely recreation) -  But because of this horrid taste in the back of my mouth when dealing with these casinos.. You really get to see the dark side of corporate profit mongering and the insatiable greed... The online casino industry has lost a very valueable customer today, not because I want to waste money at thier games. But because I was just there to play fair, I wasn't trying to win and I wasn't being stingy. 

 

 

Its funny how a lot of my actual work is realted to some of the problems I am having now with these casinos. I still find it so strange how people can tolerate institutions that are elaborately designed frauds with thier sole intention to seperate you from your money in a very aggressive manner... And I don't mean all casinos here, No, everyone knows casinos should have a house edge, thats how they pay the bills and make their shareholders profit. Put simply, they are an entertainment venue and you pay the Vig for the entertainment. This is the correct model..

 

But with these online companies it is something much more perverse; their mantra and livelyhood is devoted to the seperation of their clients from their property. I haven't been playing more than a month and its so evident that I'm almost considering launching a press campaign or a lawsuit.. The way they manipulate your betting limits if you're a winning player, how they try to sneak "bonuses" into your account against your will, so you have to play until you are guaranteed to lose. They will confinscate your your comp points and adjust the outcome of your virtual games as they please. They will even go so far as to "crash" a winning hand you are playing so you are forced to finish it in RNG mode(Hand where you have 19+ and the dealer is showing 4,5,6), where you "unfortuanetly" lose each and every time...

If not this particular move, they will claim the scanner wasn't able to read one of the cards and forfeit the hand when you have 20/21 and the dealer has a lemon. Of course, only returning your original bet and not paying you your winnings. And all thats not even touching the surface on the card distribution...

 

Everything I've learned about these casinos and their operations so far makes my blood boil.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Anyways, Valdes you seem to have some authority here. If you're interested in attempting to recover some of my defrauded funds from the broken games and the other issues I'll give you 50% of whatever is returned.

 

 

 

And, bogdangy, yes I know it sounds impossible. Thats why I was asking if it was worth anything to anybody, or should I look into publishing an article or interview for the checked results. Remember, this is not just a one time thing, this is the third time I've done something close.

 

 

 

Cheers

[ValDes]

 

...

Anyways, Valdes you seem to have some authority here. If you're interested in attempting to recover some of my defrauded funds from the broken games and the other issues I'll give you 50% of whatever is returned.

...

Thanks for the generous offer, but no! Our complaint system is totally free and everyone, who's feeling his/her rights were somehow infringed by an online casino operator, is able to submit a complaint against it. Simple as that.

 

Let me know if you need further assistance.