Reddit’s r/AITAH forum is known for its moral dilemma debates. But one trend is intriguing: many posts mention winning on Stake without ever mentioning losses. These often dramatic accounts raise the question of their authenticity.
Are they real experiences or a disguised marketing strategy? Gambling Club explores this suspicious presence and its implications for online transparency.
What is r/AITAH?
Most internet users will be familiar with Reddit’s ‘Am I The A**hole?’. This forum allows users to share personal situations and ask for advice on moral dilemmas. Each user recounts an experience in detail, often revolving around a conflict or a difficult choice, and asks the community to judge whether they are at fault or not. The format of the question is simple: ‘AITA for…’, and forum members respond by voting and leaving comments to support or challenge the author’s position.
This forum has become one of the most popular on Reddit thanks to the diversity of the stories told, ranging from small family disputes to more serious dilemmas. In addition to its sometimes intense debates, the forum offers a platform for reflection on social values and behaviour, while allowing everyone to expose themselves to the criticism and advice of a committed community.
The forum’s most popular posts are often re-shared in podcasts, YouTube and TikTok videos, or blog posts. So there’s no need to use Reddit to find out about some of these stories.
There are several communities on Reddit following the same principle, but each with its own specific rules or guidelines. These sub-forums make it possible to adapt the concept to different linguistic or cultural communities, while preserving the essence of collaborative moral judgement. R/AITAH is one such community. It is distinguished by a rule allowing the publication of interpersonal conflicts as well as hypothetical situations.
A shadow behind the winnings stories
Some users who regularly frequent r/AITAH have noticed a disturbing number of posts highlighting stories of winning on the Stake.com online gaming platform and the consequences this has had on the lives and relationships of the authors. However, beneath the apparent sincerity of these stories lies a question worth asking: are they genuine testimonials or simply advertising in disguise?
There have been numerous publications on r/AITAH recounting positive experiences with Stake.com, some of which were published only a few months ago. Users talk about spectacular victories on the platform, often accompanied by dramatic accounts in which the gains are presented as turning points in their lives. But what catches the eye is the total absence of any mention of losing money. In a field where chance reigns and financial risks are omnipresent, the exclusive focus on winnings seems suspicious.
Examples of publications
In a post titled ‘AITAH for not paying off my sister’s payday loans?’ from April 2024, a user won $4500 betting on Stake. His sister asked him to help pay off a $4000 loan, but the user had other plans with the money. So he asked the community for advice.
A post titled ‘AITA for breaking up with my partner after they won big and kept it all?’ and posted in March 2024 sees a user explain that they were contributing $20 monthly to support their partner’s online gambling hobby. When their partner won a substantial sum, equivalent to the price of a new car, they refused to share the winnings, claiming that all the money was theirs. Feeling excluded and seeing this as a negative sign for their future together, the user decided to end the relationship.
In another post titled ‘AITAH for not sharing my gambling winnings with my friend after using his betting tip?’ and dated January 2024, a user recounts how his friend Mark, a sports betting enthusiast, recommended a combination for him to bet on. Usually, Mark bets small amounts because of his financial situation, whereas the author, who was better off, bet £100 on this tip and won several thousand pounds, compared to a few hundred for Mark. On learning of this, Mark claimed a share of the winnings, claiming that it was his advice that had led to the win.
All the posts mentioned concern situations where users have won money thanks to Stake without suffering financial losses. Each story highlights disputes over the distribution of winnings, but none of the posts deal with a situation where the author lost money or sought help after a loss.
Inactive accounts after publication
Another intriguing element is the behaviour of the accounts that shared these testimonials. In the case of older publications, the users who publish these ‘big win’ stories on Stake.com then become inactive on the platform. After posting their stories, these accounts stop replying to comments and do not appear in any other communities on the site.
Some of the accounts are clearly ‘throwaway’ accounts, which some r/AITAH users create to remain anonymous if they know that people involved in the dispute are following their main Reddit account. This is a fairly common phenomenon on r/AITAH and is not immediately suspicious.
Other accounts are fake accounts with only a few posts in other popular communities before their post on r/AITAH. These posts are often republications of the most popular images in the community, allowing the accounts to amass ‘karma’, a points system that measures a user’s engagement and contribution. This score does not bring any direct benefits, but it can reinforce the user’s credibility.
The accounts publishing the most recent posts seem to have normal activity outside r/AITAH. Some of them are also active in financial communities or communities discussing betting, which indicates that they are genuinely interested in the subject. These publications are more likely to be real.
Stake.com: a tainted history
There is no definitive proof that these Reddit publications are disguised advertising, and it is possible that they are simply a reflection of personal experiences shared by gamers. However, this situation is reminiscent of past accusations against Stake.com. The company has already been accused of illegally promoting its services on social networks by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s advertising regulator. Several viral posts on the social network X (formerly Twitter) contained images bearing the Stake.com logo, even though the publication had nothing to do with gambling.
If the testimonials on r/AITAH are indeed advertising in disguise, this raises the question of the ethics of such practices. Is it acceptable to hide the true nature of such advertising, especially in spaces where users are looking for sincere advice and opinions?
Online transparency: a challenge for platforms
Here we are faced with an ethical problem linked to the regulation of online advertising, particularly for gambling, the promotion of which is illegal in some countries such as Belgium.
With the rise of platforms such as Reddit, where users share their experiences informally, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between what is advertising and what is genuine testimonial. If the publications on r/AITAH are indeed the result of subtle manipulation, they highlight an urgent need for regulation in the world of digital marketing. In the meantime, it is essential to question any content that might mask commercial intentions behind a façade of personal testimonies.