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Who is winning the losing battle?
I have wondered that so much lately that is makes me even dread to log onto the computer everyday. For over three years we (BPU) have
answered emails, and involved ourselves in issues between sites and players because someone has to care that PEOPLE, not players, but PEOPLE are being cheated on a daily basis.
I think about the hours spent in research. We gather the information and try to make some sort of fair determination on a very unfair battlefield.
For every new bit of information found to add to my education about how the online gambling industry works, the more clear it becomes WHO makes it work the way it does.
Scenerio.... Lady likes to play bingo. For whatever reason she can't get out of the house to go to her local bingo hall so she turns to online bingo.
She logs onto the internet and goes to Google to search for someplace to play. In her mind she just wants to play bingo. So when she enters "online bingo" into the search box and hits "go" she is rewarded with pages and pages of online bingo information. Most of the links brought up are going to be affiliate sites who promote particular bingo sites.
She just "assumes" that it will be just like playing at her local hall, so although a little nervous, she goes ahead and signs up, finds a way to fund and goes directly into the game, unaware of all the rules that she has already agreed to. Being new, she is going to win a few games because the software is obviously designed to let that happen. So she quickly thinks "Gee this is great" and continues to play. With every new deposit she makes it is easier to make just a little bigger one so she doesn't have to do it so often.
Who was the affiliate she used to sign up to these games? Do these affiliates have any "warnings" on their site to let the "new player" know there are or have been issues about this particular site? Do they check out the rules and regulations of the sites? Does the affiliate do any searches on these sites to "check them out" BEFORE they start making their links available or is the money they make from that link the only thing that interests them? Do these affiliates care that they are sending players to sites who have histories of cheating players, closing accounts with no explanation, keeping winnings and basically royally screwing players because they can? Do they assure the people signing up through their links that if they have a problem, this affiliate will go to bat for them? Do they have the kind of clout it would take TO DO anything or are they just another Webmaster who sees an easy way to make money online?
It becomes increasingly clear to me that it is NOT Antigua who lets them cheat. It is NOT the Netherlands Antilles or Costa Rica! It has nothing to do with the countries they are licensed in. Fact of the matter is, it wouldn't be at all hard to "claim" to have a license from any particular country while in reality, having NO LICENSE at all. The online sites owners are hidden in a very intricate web designed to make them next to impossible to find. What if they don't have any kind of license? Who is going to stop them from taking deposits from players who want to play? Who is going to turn them in? If one would want to turn them in, who do you turn them in to?
If the truth be known, there may be MANY of these sites conducting business right here in the United States. I would venture to say that most of the employees working at them reside in the states and work from their own homes. There are so many ways to hide things on the internet. Is there a way it could "seem" like our favorite site is in Antigua, but REALLY maybe they are in Boston Mass? I believe there is, although I am not learned enough to go about proving it. It just makes sense to me that these sites who do have histories of cheating players, can take and take from the players and when the "heat" gets to be more than they can stand, close that site down and do it again under a different name or just branch out and offer sister sites, not bothering to inform players that they are part of an already established network of sites.
I have emailed newspapers, heads of gaming commissions, government officials and everyone I can think of who might give a damn about online players aka PEOPLE being cheated with internet gambling without so much as the courtesy of a reply. As a member of BPU, we have fought battles for players with no other reward necessary except for the fact that I wanted to show them that someone DOES CARE. I was one of the few who didn't think the USA government did a bad thing by banning the banks and financial institutions from processing these kinds of payments. Did it do any good? NO! The sites worked overtime to find ways around this and NOBODY stopped them. And the players followed like sheep being led to slaughter.
For instance Western Union. They boldly state that they do not process funds concerning any kind of online gambling but treat complaints received in a very passe manner. It all boils down to money and all who want a piece of the pie. I cannot imagine in my wildest dreams how much money WU would be losing if it were to actively seek out and stop these payments from going to the online gambling site owners. Obviously they do not have enough money to employ people to research online gambling sites and see all of the ones who advertise right on their site that Western Union is an option. Either that, or they just don't care because to care would cost too much.
You know I am sorry but it is NOT the government who makes the corruption in the online gambling industry. It is not the greedy operators or even MORE greedy site owners. It isn't even the affiliates who could give a damn if you are being offered a fair playing field. It is not the countries who dole out licenses if you have enough money to buy one and pay their prices. Those licenses have nothing to do with any kind of "regulations". They have everything to do with "whose palm is being greased" on a regular basis. It is just red tape. With enough money anyone can buy an extremely big package of that tape.
It is all about the money. Who has the money? Who built the industry? Who pays for those meetings in exotic places? Who secretly deposits using Western Union even though they say it is against their policy? Who magnifies the power some in the industry already have with every deposit they make? Money IS power! As the old saying goes, "Life is like a s**t sandwich, The more BREAD ($$$) you have , the less s**t you have to eat". As long as players are feeding the lion, it will continue to grow and become stronger.
The losing battle is happening because players who have issues with one site, just move on to another and continue to feed the lion. Starvation is the only learning tool it will understand.
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