I've written before about my casino 'secret shopper' evaluation program, where they send me some money to play at a casino and I keep what I win, sending the original amount back. Well, I previously lost all of the money on my first three assignments, and felt badly about this as I lost more than $200 of the program's money. (Of course, the way the program is structured, I also got paid nothing.) This time however, I got sent $60 and managed to get it up to $83.75. I thought this was perfectly respectable and started the cash-out process.
As part of the survey which I fill out, I tell them how much I won or lost. I submitted my survey this morning and got an email this afternoon from the program manager, saying, "Winning $23.75 for yourself isn't much. You are welcome to continue playing to try and make more for yourself if you want to. The choice is yours though."
I replied saying that I had done badly on the previous assignments and wanted to not lose this time. (There is no penalty for losing all the money, but the more I lose, the faster the program runs out of money and closes anyway.) And I have referred a lot of people (before I found out that you are not allowed to advertise on craigslist. oops.) So I'm hoping that some of my referrals will have signed up and played, since that will be undoubtedly more profit from this venture than anything I can make with my terrible gambling skills. I guess I'm just risk-averse, and every $5 bet seems more like an opportunity to lose $5 than to win $10. So I'm cool with $23.75.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
What games are you playing? I think with anything besides [non-video] poker, finishing up any amount is a good thing. When I played roulette in Vegas, I was happy and cashed out when I was up about 50%.
I usually play one round on a couple different games just to see what the casino offers, how fast the download speed is, and other things that they ask about the survey. Then I spend the rest of the time playing blackjack. Most of the time what you should do is obvious, but when I am unsure I consult one of the blackjack tables available on the web. Usually I am playing (if available) Blackjack Switch, where you are dealt two sets at the same time, and have an opportunity to switch the top cards of the two sets. I feel this improves my odds, but usually you don't get 3 to 2 for blackjack playing it.
Online casinos have a much higher payout than real casinos (usually 96% or more) and I did win when I played roulette a few times. So just imagine how badly I would get wiped at a real casino. =)
Isn't online gambling about to get shut down anyway?
ok kira, i want to open your eyes a bit.
i dont know you and i havent seen your page before, but you are being scammed. if they give you money to gamble, and all you have to return is whatever they start you off at, then they are just fronting your gambling habit essentialy. as for the lady saying, "23.75 isnt much for yourself, you're welcome to keep playing, but its YOUR choice", she knows you've actually profitted from this (which is not her goal), and is encouraging you to gamble more...which is when you lose and then have to pay back the original amount from your pocket. AND REFFERALS?!?!? come on girl, you've struck a new strand of naivety...but thats why im telling you this :P
please please please please, think about whats in it for them...and you will be wiser my e-mail is eatmykarma01@yahoo.com if you wanna mail me for any advice... bu bye! -matt (no relation to other matt)
I don't have to pay back the money if I lose it all. Please read the previous posts about the casino program. If I lose the whole amount, I just report it to them along with the rest of the survey and they send me more money next time. The only profit for me comes when I win something, and then they ask that I return the original amount so that they can keep the program running longer. But I suppose I could lie and say I lost all of it every time, they have no way of knowing.
And what exactly am I losing from referrals? Most of these people are complete strangers that responded to a Craigslist ad. So I haven't really lost anything if they don't sign up, and even if they never pay me for the referrals all I've lost is an hour or two of my time.
I frankly have no idea what's in it for them, and I don't particularly care. I imagine that the results are for some online review site or something, but I'm not losing any money by doing this program. At most I'm losing some of my time.
Oh, and the program manager is a guy.
Post a Comment