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Actually I would not find it too shocking if competitors would pay other people to post disparaging remarks on other casinos if it was compulsory to gain market share. It just doesn't make much sense now because there's a wide range of casinos to choose from, whom each have their own market share, so it would seem like a labor intensive task to begin disinformation campaigns about other companies and plaguing review sites with a bunch of made up stories. Could've been a viable strategy back in the day I suppose, there weren't a lot of platforms out there. I remember when PrimeDice was one of the only legitimate and reputable BTC dice platforms out there. Now, of course, there's many.
Yes that is a possibility. However they would be risking getting caught doing an illegal act. And that would completely ruin their business. No matter how careful they are, everyone slips up at some point and somebody talks or points a finger and tada! Caught and in jail (or paying a lot of money).
Not sure anyone would risk doing something like hiring individuals for incentivized libel/slander.
But even then the casino in question, if they were a good casino, would quickly be able to dismiss rumors and keep its good name clean. Furthermore as you say, its quite a labor intensive task, therefore I doubt anyone would want to go that far to cause minimal damage with maximum legal risk. Thats why I rather do my research by searching for negative reviews about casinos/products/services/people.