I received this message yesterday:
Hi Doog,
I'm suro(122865)
I've lost big yesterday - a little bit too much.
[...]
Since I don't have a way to contact investors individually, I asked him about posting his message here. He agreed.
At first I thought that posting this story here was a nice thing to do, such as "hey yes we take money away from gamblers, but when they go broke maybe we are kind", but thinking about it a bit more... it doesn't add up.
1. if he won instead, he likely would be very wealthy now: risk vs. reward, why did he get the possibility of having the reward, if we back up his risk now that he knows he has lost? If he won, do you think he would similarly donate all his money to charity? Doubt it.
2. if you feel sorry for him, well, divest. Your being invested means you are being fine with screwing people, it's not this occasional charity that would make you feel better.
3. if you really feel like doing charity, then give it to a gamblers supporting/awareness group instead: I guess there must be somewhere some group trying to educate people in not doing stupid bets like this. Donating to such a group could be beneficial (at least in theory) to all potential gambler-losers, instead to just one who managed to arise your pity.
Sorry if I'm being harsh, but a few days ago I was just considering divesting because I hate gambling, as I'm torn between the "it's their own choice to give me free money" vs. "this should never happen, and I'm part of the problem instead of part of the solution".
Sorry for this post, I really appreciate the work doog is doing, he has managed to create the fairest gambling site so far, still... being the fairest is not enough, apparently.
I still have to decide if I want to still be part of it or not.