Quote:
Originally Posted by potatokmish
Wow, I just spent 2 days reading this thread. Probably will be the only internet thread I remember for the rest of my life! Here are my thoughts..... etc., etc.
Firstly, thanks for posting. Very interesting perspective. And I admire your approach to gambling. You seem like an honorable man.
The key question in my mind regarding a free roll is the following: can the bookie or bettor pay immediately if he loses the bet? Or put another way, does he have adequate funds equal to or greater than the amount being wagered, with the clear intention of paying should he lose?
In your case, the bookie owed a huge sum to a third party. But does that mean he can't cover your specific bet if you lose? Your bets were smaller in scale. And as far as you know, he could have a payment plan worked out on the big bet, and adequate cash on hand for smaller bets, which allows him to continue operation.
Banks do this all the time. They can be incredibly exposed when a major bet goes wrong, let's say the dollar/Yen exchange rate changes in a way that means they cannot cover their losses, if forced to pay. They don't stop all operations. That would only make things much, much worse. They take steps to service their obligation, while keeping operations running, hoping to eventually pay back all obligations in full.
In the CM example, he had bet the large sum, while JY apparently couldn't pay a much smaller sum to a third party (or rather, third parties). So if true (and JY's inability to provide any proof is rather damning, although not conclusive), JY did not have adequate funds to cover CM's bets, should CM have won.
Also, CM had no idea of JY's inability to cover other debts at the time, while you did have knowledge of this from your bookie. So it really was on you to either walk away, ask for specific assurances (escrow?), or just hope for the best if you win, and pay when you lose. You apparently chose option 3. And again, hats off to you for doing the honourable thing and following through.
So great perspective, but I see it as comparing apples to oranges.
--PP