I don't know how valid is that, as ponzis have existed since the last 2-3 years. So people who tried it then, would have lost money. But still went ahead and tried it this time as well.
Yes, they do, and they will, as far as these ponzis will look promising and will pay, and they won't stop until they either get scammed or lose the way people are losing in this one...

Yeah you're honestly a lot better off risking it investing or playing actual casino games where there is some actual element of chance--the number of people who invest in this scheme is unknown, the website stability is unknown etc.
Not only that releasing the address beforehand is stupid; the rough time of the game should be announced (+/- random 10 minutes) and whoever is lucky enough to get the address first can deposit the soonest.
All that pre-announcing the address does is let everyone who can script spam the crap out of the site completely taking any entertainment element out of it (again, if you're going into this without a bot you're not competing against humans, you are competing against bots)