Srinivas Reddy, a farmer residing in Rangareddy, received a compensation from the government and lost most of it in a few months, as his son gambled it away in online casino games using his smart phone. The smart phone was bought to the son by his father, to follow online classes.
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The compensation of Rs 1.05 crore was received by the farmer, from Telengana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC). In exchange, the farmer gave up his 10 acres of land in Sitarampur of Shahbad mandal.
Intending to buy half acre land at Mallapur in Shamshabad mandal on the outskirts of Hyderabad, the farmer had made an agreement of RS 70 lakh and paid Rs 20 lakh in advance. Out of the remaining Rs 85 lakh, Reddy deposited Rs 42.5 lakh in his bank account and the remaining in the account of his wife Vijayalaxmi.
The Disastrous Turn of Events
The younger son, Harshvardhan Reddy, transferred the money from his father’s account to his own and told him that he would pay it to the land owner. He told his mother the same thing and made her withdraw the money from her account.
The funds in Harshvardhan’s bank account were slowly eaten away as he started wagering them in online casino games, through his smart phone, bought to him by his father to follow online classes.
In around three months, the farmer’s money had vanished into thin air. According to the teenager’s elder brother, during the gambling spree Harshvardhan had won thrice and won about 5 lakh, which he wagered again and lost as well.
The teenager’s father managed to discover what had happened as soon as he checked his wife’s account and found zero balance in it. Suspecting it was a cybercrime, he approached Cyberdad police. The investigation revealed that even the Rs 47.74 lakh given to the youngest for registration of the land at Mallapur was missing.
In the meantime, Harshvardhan Reddy also reportedly borrowed Rs 7 lakh from some people in the village for gambling.
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The Aftermath
When the family confronted Harshvardhan, he admitted to spending the money in online gambling. The family were horror-struck, especially since they do not own any other property or savings, except for their house. Their only source of income is a cow bought by the father from the government’s sum of money.
The family is doing their best to salvage something out of the 25 lakh given as advance for land purchase. The father has also approached cybercrime police of the Cyberabad police with a request to help them in getting back the money, which was the only source of financial support for the family. In the meantime, the police have written to the bank to gather transaction details and contact various payment gateways to trace the money.
Unfortunately, such a story is far from an isolated tale. We come across many stories where players are unable to control their habits and gamble responsibly. Perhaps it’s partially owing to the fact that no deposit bonuses are sometimes too tempting to pass up. Other times it’s simply a matter of not enough measures implemented by the casino operator.
With certain casinos, measures are already in place to help prevent such disasters for those who tend to overplay their hand. For instance, players with a gambling problem can choose to place a limit on their losses, deposits and the amount of money and time spent on games. Self-exclusion is a further form of precommitment tool offered by some casinos to promote responsible gambling. Although it is totally up to the discretion of player to opt in for these measures, casinos who make such tools readily available would be bringing an invaluable resource to the market as they would be contributing towards the prevention of problem gambling.
It isn’t known whether any of these measures were already in place in the online casino used by the younger son, but such an unfortunate incident might serve as a wake-up call to casino operators and players alike, to avail themselves of tools that can take the edge off such dire losses.
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