Video summary
Richie joins Craig Carton to discuss his journey with offshore gambling, revealing how he transitioned from legal markets in New Jersey and New York to unregulated crypto casinos after giving up traditional bookies. He explains that these illegal platforms appeal to compulsive gamblers by offering aggressive bonus structures, loss refunds, and instant withdrawal speeds that regulated sites cannot match due to tax laws. Unlike legitimate operators who must adhere to strict financial regulations, offshore sites like Stake.com use "carousel licenses" from jurisdictions such as Malta or Costa Rica, allowing them to bypass self-exclusion orders and ignore identity verification protocols by simply generating fake documents or using VPNs to mask their location.
The core of the trap lies in sophisticated algorithms designed to keep addicts engaged rather than providing fair odds. Richie details how these platforms utilize "seed-based" wagering systems that manipulate win probabilities based on a gambler's recent activity; if a user loses a streak, the algorithm artificially inflates their chances of winning the next few hands to encourage continued betting. This psychological manipulation is compounded by constant marketing from streamers and content creators who promote these sites around the clock, creating an environment where users feel they are outsmarting a rigged system only to be pulled back in by promises of future bonuses or reloads that ensure they never run out of money to bet with.
Richie's descent into addiction was further fueled by a cycle of debt and promotion where he became essentially a "street agent" for these casinos. When he ran out of personal funds, the sites would extend credit lines or offer massive reloads, sometimes sending physical gifts like large TVs as incentives to return. This dynamic led him to realize that his only way to maintain access to action was to bring in other high-rollers who would lose money, allowing him to pay off his own debts through commissions on their losses. He describes a grueling routine of betting on obscure sports like rugby and tennis at odd hours while barely sleeping, eventually reaching a point where he could no longer withdraw his winnings despite having hundreds of thousands in his account, signaling the complete loss of control over his finances.
Ultimately, Richie concludes that even if he had stuck solely to regulated US markets, he likely would have still faced gambling problems due to his predisposition and family's encouragement of his winning streaks, but the offshore market made the addiction exponentially worse. The lack of oversight allows these unregulated entities to operate without regard for player welfare, ignoring self-exclusion requests and manipulating game outcomes to maximize profit from vulnerable individuals. His story serves as a stark warning about the dangers of crypto gambling, where the combination of deceptive technology, predatory bonus schemes, and a complete absence of legal recourse creates a perfect storm for financial ruin that is difficult to escape once the trap is sprung.
Read the full video transcript
[music]
Welcome back to another edition of the
comeback. Craig Carton with you and
happy to have a fellow gambler in
recovery. Uh Richie joins us this
morning. Richie, good morning. How you
doing, pal?
>> Good morning, Craig. Doing well.
Yourself?
>> Good. I appreciate you spending a few
minutes sharing your story with us. Uh,
when was the date of your last wager?
>> Uh, July 13th of 2026.
>> All right. So, uh, fresh at it again.
Yeah,
>> fresh at it again. I I did have some
clean time from when I was uh 17 to 23.
>> Okay.
>> But, uh, that's all part of the part of
the story or whatever.
>> Yeah. By the way, that's the norm. Like
recovery doesn't just happen overnight
with the blink of an eye. The majority
of people, that's the norm is that you
try to get into recovery. You you may
even have a successful period of time.
like you said, you went about 6 years
without gambling, but a lot of gamblers
find their way back uh to gambling. You
know, one of the concerns we have are
the unregulated markets. Um you know,
finding the quote unquote illegal or
offshore sites uh to gamble with, and I
know you've got some experience with
that. Yeah,
>> I do. Uh so I gave up bookies when it
became legal in New Jersey, New York,
>> but I shortly then turned to uh crypto
casinos.
>> Okay. you know, just no uploading
documents, uh, sending crypto back and
forth, not having to pay taxes in the
state of New York because, you know,
it's not fully regulated yet with, you
know, with crypto coins and how that
process is.
>> So, let me let me back the truck up on
that. As a guy that was gambling legally
above board um, uh, in New Jersey, how
did you discover the, you know, illegal,
unregulated,
uh, markets and platforms? just content
creators. A lot of it becoming a lot of
mainstream uh Instagram, you know, back
in the time, like a few years ago,
Twitch when Twitch was a big market. Now
it's now now it's on kick.
>> It's just the content creators. All
these casinos are just hiring
>> any single person that has a platform to
just put their name brand on it and then
start wagering on their website. And
then you just you just notice the
bonuses, the loss stack, the breakback
is 10 times more juiced up than you can
do in New Jersey and New York because
the bonusing structure in New York and
New Jersey are all based on the tax law.
So, you know, you might be wagering in
the state of New York $20,000 on a bet
and then you text your host and he's
only giving you a hundred bucks. It's
like, hey, what's going on? But those
crypto casinos don't have to abide by
that. They just do whatever they want to
stick you and then suck you into
unlimited money. They give you right
back, loss back.
>> Got it. So, they appeal to you with uh
the bonus offers, you know, the things
that any gambler, especially a
compulsive gam looking for. How do I get
more action? How do I get more money in
the account? And as long as they're
willing to give you what you wanted,
which it seems like they were, you then
you would choose them over the regulated
site because they were offering you
things the regulated sites couldn't. and
wouldn't. Right.
>> Exactly. Also, like, you know, to to a
gambler, withdraw speed is everything.
And without a crypto casino, you put
that withdraw in at 12:01 p.m. that's in
your, you know, your crypto exchange at
12:02. So, it's just, you know, the
speed of everything. And also the the
system that they have, the vaulting
system where, you know, you unlock
$10,000, but it's spread out over the
next 10 days. So you always know in the
back of your head as a gambling addict
that I have money coming in tomorrow,
the next day, etc. So they just keep you
glued.
>> Yeah. And I would assume that they also
don't give a rat's ass uh if you're
losing. Um like they never cut you off.
There's never a point where like in the
regulated market you can run out of
money and they're not going to give you
uh comp bets or more money into your
account because a they can't and b they
know you don't have it because you just
lost all your money. I assume the
unregulated uh platforms and the crypto
casinos, there's no stopping even if
you're flat out broke.
>> Yeah, they're extremely smart. I mean,
it appealed to me like just going over
like their quick bonus structure. You
know, they give a bonus at at the
beginning of the month. It's based off
your previous month of wagering. So, if
you lost $50,000, but you wagered
600,000, you're going to be getting
somewhere between a,000 and 2,000. And
then they give you another bonus on the
15th and then the 28th. And then if
you're a certain type of level of
player, they'll give you a daily reload,
which is a percentage of whatever you
wagered and gambled in the last seven
days. So when I wake up in the morning
and as an addict, when I don't have a
dollar or whatever, I go to that
website, I claim my reload for a
thousand bucks. Hey [ __ ] that thousand
that $1,000 is mine for the day,
>> right?
>> And you know, I can withdraw it or I can
gamble it. But
>> no, I experienced that. I used to wager
on a on a site called Black Diamond
Casino, which was based out of Malta.
And I was their biggest gambler for
sure. So, anytime I asked for a reload
or, you know, more bucks in my account,
they were happy to give it to me because
they knew at some point I was going to
need to put more of my own money in, you
know, to double a hand, to split a hand,
to whatever the case may be. And then
they enticed me to stay on. And again,
this is a Maltabased company.
>> Yeah. I got sent a a 70inch TV screen to
my house just as an incentive to come on
back again. AND GUYS, I'M OUT OF MONEY
THIS WEEK. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. WE'LL
GIVE YOU 10,000 bucks in your account
you're going to play blackjack with. So,
I have I have experienced it on a
different level than you for sure.
>> Yeah, 100%. And just with the sites that
I used, you know, the owners of the
sites were my VIP hosts. So, I would be
getting a credit line, you know, if I
reached a certain threshold a month,
right?
>> Where if I had no pot to piss in, oh,
let me text Eddie real quick, he'll drop
x amount of dollars in the account.
>> Did you ever get to an issue where
you're broke, you don't have no money,
they've extended you more credits or
reloads and you lost it and then you owe
them the money and things got ugly or
No.
>> So, no. So, I ad So, I adapted. I then
took it a different way. I've then
downloaded Discord and Telegram and
started to promote my own code to bring
players to the site, big players, cuz
you know when you're gambling with that
type of money that you know myself or
you are gambling with, you also have a
friend, you know, you have a circle of
friends that kind of do the same thing,
>> right?
>> So then I started to get my name out
there with sending my link to driving
traffic to the site. So if I had one of
my guys that lost 300K in a weekend, you
know, I turned to the owner like, "Hey,
I can also bring you more players. Why
don't you extend me a line or why don't
you wipe off the credit? It just it just
keeps the madness going and like you
said, like you touched on it, there's no
regulation, so they can do whatever they
want, however they want to do it,
>> right? So, you became a street agent for
them either to pay down your own debt
because you would get a piece of the
losses of the guys you brought to them.
Um, or they would just be a way to get
more credit for yourself. One or the
other. But you became a street agent not
because it was a good business, but
because it let you stay in action. Yeah,
>> exactly. And what about advertising? I
know the regulated markets there there
are rules and regulations they have to
follow about how they advertise, where
they advertise and market. I assume with
you and guys like you and me, it's 24/7
non-stop barrage of of marketing. Yeah.
>> Yeah. So, exactly. So, for me, I'm not a
content creator. I'm just a degenerate
gambler that just like to have fun and
make money and deal with that. But if
you go on kick, they, you know, these
crypto casinos such as like, you know,
>> stake, rubet or shuffle,
>> they they pay streamers to be live for
24 hours. So their advertisement is live
every single second of every single day.
I mean, now, you know, you look at a UFC
octagon, you see State us on there.
>> So it's just that, you know, now they're
starting to understand that, you know,
the do casino might not be able to
promote it because it's crypto casinos.
And I was wondering like I've I've seen
some of those streamers and I've seen
the ads you're talking about and I
always wondered, you know, I I've always
wondered where where the casinos are and
then I've wondered I know I've seen some
stories of, you know, they were going to
go after Drake like cuz he made a
gazillion dollars. And I I always
wondered to myself who's making sure
that the computer program behind those
gambling sites actually is honest,
right? And you know, you can win money
because I've not I have still yet to see
the story celebrating, you know, billion
Idaho who won a million bucks on stake.
I haven't seen that story yet.
>> So, it's just But so, it's incredible
that you say that because the just my my
niche, my big my go-to was stake.com.
That's where I did most of my gambling,
my wagering. And uh they use a system
called Probably Fair. Just substitute
the B for uh with a V. And uh it's all
seedbased wagering, seed based. So it's
a computer system that will unlock a win
at a certain number of bets or that
particular seed will never give you that
crazy win,
>> right?
>> And their sister site, they have a site
called uh sealstats.com
where you can then change your seed and
input your old one to see where you
would have won. So now that they're not
really Yes.
>> So the winning the winning is not based
on you know we're gonna pay out 40% of
all the wages that come in something
like some s like that or it's going to
be legitimately randomized cards. They
are they are telling you based on how
you bet that will dictate whether or not
you can win.
>> Yes. So for you like you mentioned
blackjack right? Yeah. You can play
electron, you can play AI blackjack
onstate.com,
>> and you lose, let's say, 16 hands in a
row, like you saw your new seed, you
lost 16 hands in a row.
>> The chances of you winning the next 12
hands jumps from, let's say, 10% to
about 75.
>> Wow.
>> Because it's all computer-based. It
tracks that, okay, this guy lost 26
hands in a row and pushed five of them
during that that, you know, during that
26. Okay, now the next 15. So what
people are picking up is you're betting,
you know, let's say $1,000 a hand. I
just lost seven hands in a row. Okay. Is
this part of the seed, which is bad? So
they drop down to a penny and they try
to then in their head
>> they try to outsmart the algorithm. Got
it.
>> Exactly. And then that algorithm somehow
just it's it's a sick thing. It just
keeps it going, which is
>> Yeah. I think I think that algorithm uh
the reason you win a couple of those
hands is because now you think you're
going to win seven or eight in a row. So
you will own to refund the account
because now you're in the part of the
seed as you call it where now I'm going
to win.
>> Yeah, that's devious. That's crazy. I
never heard that before. That's a new
one on me.
>> I've been doing like I said, I've been
doing it since 2019. So I just I've seen
stake and all these other sites from
when they were in the terms of infancy
stage
>> to where they're just
>> you know the other weird thing about
those companies I'm just thinking about
in real time with you is that I can go
right now and I can self-exclude from
wagering. I can do it in any any
specific state. I can do it on, you
know, all the different, you know, legal
uh sites out there as well. They all
allow me to tell those companies, don't
take my money. I've got a problem,
right?
>> Yeah.
>> But even if I self-excluded from every
state in America,
I could still wager on these offshore,
you know, crypto uh and other type of uh
sites. They they don't honor the
self-exclusion. Correct.
>> No, they make it extremely easy for you
to gamble. So when you know when you
decide to go on these sites and make an
account and it says you know to upload
an ID now simply you just put your VPN
to Norway. I'm just using it for my
example.
>> Go ahead.
>> VPN to Norway. And then when you select
Norway on their website
it drops a million different addresses.
You select one random Norwegian address.
>> So let me let's slow this down for a
second. You're saying that All right. So
you've self-excluded. So they they have
to find a way to get around that so they
can still take your money. So when you
log into those sites, you get to tell
them where in the world you reside or
you're physically at so that that you
can then gamble. Is that correct?
>> Yes. So when you're basically when you
self-exclude from their site and you
want to go back on their site and play,
you click sign up. You you select the
country that's legal to gamble in on a
crypto casino.
>> Okay? So, Mexico, Norway, etc. Any
country you select, they will
automatically input an address into the
address bar and they'll automatically
input a random name.
>> Wow.
>> And then the next level is that for when
this says, you know, take a picture of
the front and back of the license,
there's a button that literally just
says generate image.
>> So, it will generate an image and it
will make it you'll be level one, level
two, level three KYC. And understand
something, all these sites are using
what they call a car a carousel license,
gaming license. So, just like you're
very familiar with the maltabase,
>> right?
>> It's every every crypto casino, I would
say 95% of them use a carousel license,
>> which allows them to do this.
>> Yeah. I used to own a casino in Costa
Rica. I know exactly what you're talking
about.
>> You know, I this was the expression I
always used when I was gambling. I'm
gambling 27 hours a day in a 24-hour day
because I'm waking up at 5:00 a.m. I'm
betting tennis. Tennis was my vice. I
bet 20 tennis 247. Rugby, you bet.
>> So, you were betting on stuff you
couldn't even watch.
>> Oh, no. No. I can watch everything. Oh,
so another thing that just to touch on
these crypto casinos, they stream
everything. Any single game.
>> So, you can watch God. any single game
you bet on, whether it's pingpong,
cricket, snooker, rugby, table tennis,
whatever it might be, they have a stream
up on their website for you to watch it.
So during co I picked up rugby. Like I
just I started bet just cuz it was, you
know, a Friday night in the US.
>> Yeah.
>> For me to have money for Saturday UFC,
let me bet rugby at 2 a.m., 5:00 a.m.,
and 6 a.m. So I have a bankroll. But
just in terms of like the activities
like to do more outdoor stuff to you
know to get my ass off.
>> So when you when you were in deep at at
your lowest point of gambling it was you
weren't sleeping right. This was 247
scenario for you like can you walk us
through an average day like what was an
average Saturday for you? Average
Saturday, uh, I'll give it I'll give
twice during college football was rug
Saturday morning rugby at 3:00 a.m. 5:00
a.m. and 6:00 a.m. However I bet it, I
then bet a challenger in tennis that was
going on in, you know, Australia or
Europe. And then as college football's
about to, you know, start back up, I'm
betting those 12:00 games. those 12:00
games, as long as I can win one of those
games that would lead me into UFC 5:00,
>> right,
>> was gold for me because now I'm going to
be parlaying something in the UFC with a
Pack 12 game going on at 9:00 at night.
And then depending on how that went
leading into Sunday morning, I'm betting
rugby at 1:00 a.m. or Australian
football at 3:00 a.m. I really didn't
sleep. It was be and also I realized
this towards the end of my gambling just
like recently. I can put $10,000 in the
account, $20,000, run that up to 200K,
and that money is mine within 10 seconds
if I withdraw it. Right?
>> I started not being able to press the
withdraw button, which was something
huge for me because for years,
I would always be proactive. I would
withdraw any amount of money that I won,
a significant amount, and I would give
60% of that to my dad and my mom to hold
on for me to like if I ever needed a few
thousand or whatever, like they give it
to make sure I had money for gambling
more. But the last like four years, it
it didn't matter the number in my I had
one 600k in the account. I couldn't
withdraw it anymore. It just why can't
I? I just continued to gamble.
The sick part was when you're gambling
on these crypto casinos, the more you're
gambling during that session, your
bigger rate back that you're getting and
you're also solidifying your next your
next five bonuses for the next month
because in my head I'm an addict.
>> This money when I lose it, I still want
to make sure somehow I'm going to have
money in three weeks.
>> So it look, it's fair to say you were
predisposed to having a gambling
problem. I I I hear that loud and clear.
But had you limited your gambling solely
to regulated legal uh United States
markets and sites, you may have had a
problem anyway. It sounds like you
probably would have, but it would have
been mitigated because of all the rules
that they have that the crypto casinos
don't have to follow.
>> Exactly. And I think another thing that
kind of led to my downfall is like a lot
of my family, my father, they all said
like you're, this was the sick part,
you're actually good at gambling. You're
actually good at picking winners. The
problem is you're not good at holding on
to the money.
>> Well, you also didn't share the losses
with them either.
>> Yeah. Exactly. No, I know.
>> Hey, Dad, I WON AGAIN. I KEEP WINNING.
IT'S ALL I DO IS WIN.
>> EXACTLY. But it's just like No, but like
it's sick. It's like you just hear it's
I mean as a gambler, you just know. you
just hear one key word that might keep
you going.
>> I appreciate you. I look forward to uh
hearing your story of success along the
way. And please use me as a second
sponsor. Uh it's something that you can
always talk to and thank you so much for
sharing the story today. [music]