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TEXT_155.txt
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1997-08-18
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Webmasters slam Net casino
By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
July 6, 1998, 2:25 p.m. PT
Thousands of small-time Web site operators
hoping to cash in on an online casino's banner
advertising scheme have found themselves
deprived of payment and accused of cheating.
The casino, Cyberthrill.com, lets Web sites post
its advertising banners and pays those sites 20
cents every time a different user clicks on the
banner within a 24-hour period.
But attached to the program are stringent rules,
which the casino says users are violating in
droves.
As a result, Cyberthrill has withheld payments
and revoked the right to
participate from thousands of
users. Those users--who by and
large claim to have followed
Cyberthrill's rules--have taken
to Internet newsgroups and Web sites to
complain and vent their accusations that
Cyberthrill has taken them for a ride.
Online gambling is expected to take off,
according to a report issued last month by
analyst firm Datamonitor. Revenues in 1998 are
expected to reach $535 million, rising to $955
million in 1999 and $2.3 billion by 2000, the
study said.
But Net gambling is not without legal sticking
points: A pending bill, the Internet Gambling
Prohibition Act, seeks to update the federal Wire
Act to outlaw accepting and placing cash bets on
the Net, with a few exceptions. Some states,
such as Minnesota and Missouri, have filed
charges against the owners of online casinos,
which do business with residents via the Net.
"It...seems that Cybertrhill is a scam and that
they are cheating thousands of people who are
promoting Cyberthrill and that they actually are
not paying," wrote one participant in the
"alt.www.webmaster" newsgroup in a post that is
representative of many dozens, if not hundreds.
"Without any acceptable described reason [they]
have closed my account and are not answering
any of my emails asking what is going on."
One Web site lists unsigned testimonials from
others who claim to have been swindled by the
casino, along with correspondence with casino
representatives regarding an account that was
frozen repeatedly and never paid out.
Cyberthrill.com is an offshore betting company
located in the Bahamas. It is co-owned by
unnamed companies and individuals and
represented by the Canadian firm Internet
Entertainment, which also handles the casino's
marketing and banner advertising program.
Internet Entertainment spokesperson Jeff
Thomas declined to identify the casino's owners.
The domain name is registered with a phone
number belonging to a Bahamian law firm that
claims no relationship with or knowledge of the
gambling business.
Thomas characterized the banner advertising
system as a huge success with tens of thousands
of participants. But the vast majority of those
participants are cheating, he said.
"Seventy-five percent commit some kind of
fraud," Thomas said. "A lot of it we forgive, and
send some kind of warning. But about 30 percent
are blatant and repetitive abusers." Those users
get their accounts canceled and are not paid for
the hits they generated, he said.
Under Cyberthrill's rules, cheating consists of
altering its standard banners, sending spam or
posting unsolicited chat or newsgroup messages
with links to the casino, and creating Web pop-up
ads with those links.
According to Thomas, one user created a program
that randomly generated thousands of phony
email addresses and sent them to the casino.
Thomas acknowledged the chorus of complaints
sounding on the Internet, but dismissed its
importance. He conceded that the unexpected
success of the program had caused his company
to fall behind by two weeks in processing checks,
and said many people would stop complaining
once they finally got paid.
"But most of the people who are complaining are
people that are blatantly cheating," he said.
"Anyone who is honest with us is getting paid."