I've seen a lot of people on this sub who have a common misconception that placing bets on Bovada, BetOnline, and any other offshore sportsbook is illegal. After reading the post about sharp betting which also mentions this, I'm here to clear the air and tell you that offshore sports betting is not and has never been against United States law.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 was passed to try to prevent people from betting offshore. It makes it illegal for any offshore sportsbook to accept credit cards, checks, and electronic fund transfers for the purpose of sports gambling. Here's the catch: Nowhere in this law does it say anything about placing a bet being illegal. So while they're breaking the law by accepting your money for sports gambling, you are not. It's similar to the decriminalization of drugs, where if you're caught possessing a small amount of drugs you won't be arrested, but if you're caught selling them you can still be prosecuted.
I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that want to bet on sports, but don't want to take the chance because it's "illegal" and would prefer to wait till their state legalizes sports betting. Other people that bet offshore use a VPN and send Bitcoin from a private wallet to minimize their chances of "getting caught." All of that is completely unnecessary.
Now I'm not a lawyer, but I don't have to take out six figures worth of student loans to correctly interpret the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. And to my knowledge, nobody has ever been prosecuted for placing a bet on a sketchy Caribbean based sportsbook.
So if you want to bet offshore, go ahead! You probably will lose your money, but you certainly won't lose your freedom.

We have 14,500 members here, and a regular day here is som 20 to 50 member online, and barely anyone is writing anything of all these people. So my question is... how many DEA and coppers do you you think are trying to find who's who here? I think hundreds from all over the world. I don't give a rats ass about it because I always use Tor with a Protonmail VPN on top of that while logged in here. Just wonder why there's som many members but almost bo one is active. Looks really weird to me and something I haven't seen anywhere in any other group online before. If you log in here with your verified open IP you can bet your ass authorities have your name on file, no doubt at all about that.

I'm not a moderator, an administrator, I am not even a fucking daily user of this sub-reddit but I am a nerd and a technology enthusiast and I am so tired of the fucking endless same questions on here so if you are about to ask a question please read this at-least!
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KRNL Is Detected As A Virus!
Make damn sure you download it from the official place. There are endless posts on here that tell you the official download link to KRNL. KRNL is also detected as a virus because it's an executor and the fact that it "attaches" itself to Roblox and executes whatever script you shove down it's throat. Either turn off your anti-virus or whitelist it / exclude it from detection.
KRNL Won't Download / Install Required Files
Delete KRNL. And I mean delete it not just pussy out and delete some stuff I mean REALLY delete everything. If you can't then open Task Manager (Win+R > "taskmgr.exe" > Run) and find KRNL, KRNL Bootstrapper, or anything related to KRNL. Select and kill it. If you still have a problem then restart your computer. Then download KRNL (remember to turn off anti-virus since it's false flagged as a virus / malicious software) and fucking run that bitch as administrator. Then let it install it's shit, do it's thing, don't fucking touch the mouse with your nasty ass hands until it's done. It should do it's thing.
Is "Exploit API Name" Safe?
Instead of listing out exploit API names and telling you if they're safe, go around the sub-reddit and try searching in the sub-reddit for "Exploit API" or "API" and find some information. If you're still skiddish then just make your own and learn something for once.
I'm Banned From "Discord Server" What Do I Do?
Well nothing. You're basically fucked unless you get a VPN, an alternative Discord account, and hide in the crowd. Either way you shouldn't have acted stupid to get banned.
Can't Join Synapse X Discord Server!
Close Synapse X. Make sure it's actually closed via Task Manager. Find your Synapse X files and delete the "discord.bin" file. Once completed open Discord before opening Synapse X. Let Discord open completely and then open Synapse X. If that doesn't work then make sure Auto-Join Discord in the Synapse X settings is ticked and try again. If this fails then remove Synapse X completely, re-install Synapse X, keep Discord open while installing and see if that works. If it doesn't then try restarting your computer. Use common sense and try different methods.
Where Do I Find Scripts?
Roblox script websites are available if you just look. Actually take the time to look online instead of asking here. We get it you want a human response but come on dude just search online.
How Do I Make An Exploit?
Most common languge to make an exploit is C#. Unless you really want to get down and understand everything about making an exploit and making your own API then go with C++. C# is good if you want semi-pre-built Windows Form options and have an API of your choice.
Is WeAreDevs Safe?
Pretty damn sure it's safe. Besides some ad-ware that it might come with that you can skip (hell you can probably use UnChecky to warn you) it should be fine. Same goes with API it should be fine but might not be the best exploit, API, or option to choose from.
Exploit Requires VC++ Redistributable?
Download the correct VC++ redistributable package. You should also download both 32-bit and 64-bit if you're a 64-bit user as some applications may be marked under 32-bit and prefer 32-bit. Microsoft also provides a VC++ download that includes the latest VC++ that some applications might use but you might need to look further for some exploits that need for example: VC++ 2015.
How Do I Bypass Roblox Chat Filter?
There is a method to make your own Roblox curse bypass filters but it takes trial and error. Open Character Map in Windows and try and find characters that are different from english lanugage but still look like an english character and just match them up with your favorite curse word. I've done this before it still works it just takes some patience.
Can I Get Banned From Roblox?
Yes. If you are hit by a ban-wave (are those even a thing?) or you're caught hacking you will be punished and most likely have your account banned. So use an alternative account. If you hacked and stopped really quick cause you're on your main then you should be fine since report system in Roblox might as well not even send out a report ticket (it doesn't even do shit half time is what I mean).
Anybody Have A Script For Grab Knife, FE Scripts, etc.
Scripts like Grab Knife I'm pretty sure don't work on normal servers unless the server is backdoored. Grab Knife I am pretty sure also was discontinued by the developer and isn't being updated. If you have a Server-Sided tool and a game that has been backdoored then FE scripts might work. Haven't used any Server-Sided tools so I can't confirm or deny.
I Fucking Hate Advertisements And Linkvertise
Use an ad-blocker. uBlock Origin isn't an ad-blocker but a content blocker tool but it still acts like one and is pretty good. Linkvertise can be bypassed using an older Universal Bypass extension which you can find online (or on a GitHub repository if I can re-call correctly).
Synapse X Free? Synapse X Crack?
Shut the fuck up. Actually no you can get Synapse X free just go on YouTube and look up Rick Astley and find a song called Never Gonna Give You Up. All jokes aside no you can't and if you try looking you will most likely get a virus, malware, spyware, whatever the fuck you wanna call it. You might get real lucky and even get ransomware.
Can't Inject / Attach / Use My Exploit!
It's probably patched. Wait for an update and try again. Updates may take up to a few hours, days, but probably never more than a week. Unless the API they use is shit and never updates but why use a shitty exploit in the first place?
Possible To Exploit On iOS?
Yes. Calamari-M or whatever they call it works on iOS devices (iDevices) that have been jailbroken. Jailbreak your device (depending on if your version can be jailbroken. An example is UnC0ver for the supported iOS versions) and then get Calamari-M.
Possible To Exploit On Android?
Not positive but Game-Guardian might be able to do some shit. Might not be the best thing in the world but who says exploiting on mobile was a good idea.
Any Good Free VPN?
From my experience: Proton VPN (if you have a Proton Mail account) is pretty good and Windscribe might be good also. Free VPNs that are good are rare to find anyways so if you don't like those two then your best bet would probably be to buy one.
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This is all I'm typing for now. If this doesn't answer your question then feel free to ask away. God my fucking hands hurt. Edited because grammar bot is my teacher apparently.

*Its been a few months.. and it's about that time that I make a shit post where I bitch about everything*
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To all my fellow US players getting fucked in the ass per usual... WHAT THE FUCK DO I HAVE TO DO TO USE A HONEST POKER SITE!?
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It's 2021 and it has been almost a decade since I have been able to use a worthy-poker-site such as Full Tilt, Stars, 888, Party Poker, and so on. I am starting to fall out of love with poker because I can't keep playing on these bullshit sites located in Panama and throughout the Caribbean. Here are a couple of my experiences from the past 8-ish months or so.
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ACWPN/BCP:
- 2 to 4 months ago I received 2 PARTIAL refunds due to bots being at my table, in which one scenario was a final table. Didn't even get a full fucking refund. This also doesn't mention the other partial refunds I received earlier in 2020.
- As you all well know, ACR has had multiple scandals going back to 2012, like the the 2018-2019 PLO/NL cash game bots and several people colluding together to take advantage of the late reg glitch. Nagy can eat a fat dick.
- If you play at America's Cardroom in 2021 you're a fucking retard. (No offence)
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Betonline/BOL:
- 6 months ago Betonline removed $1000 from my poker balance on my account and said that the money was transferred to my sportsbook balance at 4am PST and all of it was spent in the online casino. When I asked them to investigate they did nothing. So I asked their Fraud/IT Department to send me a list of all devices, MAC addresses, and IP addresses that signed into my account that day... They refused to cooperate... Customer service said it was against company policy to release that type of information, even though its MY OWN fucking account and personal information. ( I took a break from the site but eventually returned because US players have no options and I love MTTs.)
- 2 months ago I deposited $50 of ETH to their sports book to bet on an NFL game. Blockchain.com confirmed that BOL's Etheruem address received my money, and I even sent customer service proof of the transaction THREE TIMES. They still refuse to issue me my $50 deposit to this day, stating "our system says the deposit is still pending".
- 2 days ago I received a $5 refund from a Windfall Sit n Go because the 2 other two players at my table were bots :) :) :) I should just kill myself at this point. WHO THE FUCK HAS BOTS AT THE JACK POT SIT N GO.
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Bovada/Ignition:
- Honestly, I haven't used them in like a year or two because they removed the chat box, make it a pain to utilize HUD software, and that fucking update they did to their software. That huge software update was so fucking horrible the sites damn near unplayable. I'm sure you guys remember the old canvas/layout that Bovada/Iggy use to utilize, it was way better.
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Anyways, I just don't know what to do anymore. I NEVER had any of these issues back in the Full Tilt days. I don't even want to play half the time because I'm sick of all the bullshit. I am also in Los Angeles, CA so the lockdown bullshit makes live poker a huge pain in the ass. Some casinos are open, some are closed, some are outside, some make you wear mask and sit in between plastic dividers, some allow you to order drinks but not food. It's all fucking stupid. I really want to use my VPN but I don't want to build up a bankroll on a legit site like PartyPoker and then have my funds frozen. Maybe I should just hang myself instead. (joking, just being a dramatic pussy)
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On a serious note, thank you for listening to me bitch and moan about my first world problems. I hope ya'll are happy, healthy and staying covid-free. Cheers to 2021, MAY THE POKER GODS BE IN YOUR FAVOR!

I would say that I'm relatively new to Reddit and the one thing that surprised me is the number of people that still play on Bovada, Ignition, Betonline, MyBookie, etc. Don't get me wrong, great sites for sports betting and poker, but absolutely horrendous when it comes to slots and live casino games.
Hitting 1,000x on a slot on Bovada is like a once in a lifetime achievement and the live dealer provider is... awful.
Over the past month or so, I have seen this Reddit flooded with random users promoting a bunch of shitty no-name crypto casinos that have been around for like 3 days. So I figured it was my duty, as somebody who has no ownership interests in any of these online crypto casinos, to share my thoughts regarding the ones that I believe are trustworthy. All of which is based on first-hand experience and countless hours of research.
First off, for those who aren't familiar with crypto casinos, the one thing that you need to know, as an American, is that you'll need to access these sites via a VPN. Personally, I use ExpressVPN and connect to Canada (or various other regions depending on which slot provider is available). The nice thing about ExpressVPN is that you can download the app and play on your phone. All of the casinos listed below allow VPN usage. Apparently NordVPN is pretty good too, but I cannot vouch for them personally.
Second thing, KYC is not required. Honestly haven't looked into this too much, but I can tell you from first-hand experience that KYC is not required in order to register or withdraw funds. All you have to do is confirm your email address. Some people have said you get KYC'd if you try to withdraw more than $2k, but again, I can confirm that it's not true (specifically for the casinos listed below). Just make sure that you only deposit/withdraw via crypto and you'll be fine. If you think this is sketchy, then please, continue making your credit card deposits at Bovada to random shell companies based out of China.
Also, DO NOT USE COINBASE TO TRANSFER TO AND FROM THE CASINO. They banned me. It hurt. Don't make the same mistake. I recommend using BRD as an intermediary between Coinbase and the casino. Since being banned from Coinbase, I have been using crypto.com to buy and sell crypto. Nothing but good things to say thus far.
Finally, I have wagered roughly $3.5MM in total across the sites below and have spent countless hours researching them, so I'd like to think that I somewhat know what I'm talking about. In no way am I an expert and in no way am I a high roller or a whale. Just a regular guy that enjoys gambling.
Now the common theme amongst the below casinos is that you have access to game providers such as Evolution (live games), Pragmatic, NetEnt, Thunderkick, Push, etc. that you'll never find on the casinos advertised as available to US players (such as Bovada). As I'm sure you know, Betsoft slots can get old after a while.
Just a few of my personal favorite games that I recommend you check out...
Live Games: Crazy Time, Monopoly, Evolution Blackjack and Evolution Speed Baccarat
Slots: Dead or Alive 2, Money Train 2, Lil' Devil, Sweet Bonanza and The Dog House
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Site #1: Roobet.com (Best for casual gamblers)
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, generous rakeback system, instant bitcoin deposits (they will credit your account before receiving any confirmations-- this is really nice), every so often they'll run a 24 hour promotion where if you hit 100x on slot betting at least $1 you'll be "King Roo" (basically King of the Hill) and accumulate ~$20 per minute until you're dethroned
What I don't like: Rakeback system only allows you to collect every 24 hrs/1 week/1 month, no clarity surrounding VIP status (assuming you need to be a whale), there was one instance where I won $36k on a $40 bet playing Reactoonz and was told I can only withdraw $10k per day (this was 6 months ago and never had an issue withdrawing since), lack of sports betting
My largest withdrawal (at once): $9.9k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH
Referral link to enable rakeback system without having to wager a shitload: https://roobet.com/?ref=hkgambler13 (you can also use code "hkgambler13")
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Site #2: Stake.com (Best for medium-high rollers)
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, incredible VIP and rakeback system (weekly/monthly bonuses, rakeback can be claimed whenever, daily/monthly challenges to earn extra cash), active and friendly chat community, multiple crytpo deposit options where your account is credited in that currency (meaning your balance equivalent in USD will swing with the market-- could be seen as a con), enjoyable "Stake Original" games that have a higher RTP than 3rd party slots, averages ~2k users online at any given time
What I don't like: Can be overwhelming for first time players (Roobet is much more straight forward and easy to use)
My largest withdrawal: $13.2k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH, LTC, DOGE, BCH, XRP (highly recommend-- cheap transfer fee, if any at all, and confirmed within seconds), TRX, EOS
Referral link to instantly enable 10% rakeback: https://stake.com/?c=6c2f1c60
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Site #3: Gamdom.com (Best for gamers)
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, newly implemented rakeback system, constant "rains" in the chat (which is free money if you join in time), ability to instantly deposit and withdraw via Rust and TF2 items (could spend an hour talking about this-- generally caters to those who cannot get crypto or have to use a CC to buy crypto), averages ~1.5k users online at any given time
What I don't like: Prior to the newly implemented rakeback system rains and level-up chests were the only "rakeback", your balance is denominated in coins (1500 coins = $1 USD), browsing through their slot selection can be a pain in the ass
My largest withdrawal (at once): $7.4k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC
Referral link to receive a free chest that could be worth up to ~$53: https://gamdom.com/chase (you can also use code "chase")
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Final parting words: PLEASE DO NOT GAMBLE WITH MONEY THAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE. Gambling is not a money making method and you will lose in the long run. The purpose of my post is to make those aware that other trustworthy online casinos are available for Americans that will (hopefully) make gambling online a bit more enjoyable!

Exeedme has partnered with SpiderDAO to offer fast bandwidth and privacy solutions for Exeedme gamers while creating a dedicated gaming community for their end-users and $SPDR holders.
Offering a dedicated gaming community
We are really excited to explore a dedicated gaming community within Exeedme for $SPDR token holders and the end users of Spider DAO software and hardware solutions. Having already a community of gamers who use Spider DAO’s speed and privacy solutions we envision a relatable and thriving community to be powered by exclusive tournaments, exclusive NFTs and exclusive Spider DAO products and software to drive the excitement.
Regardless of the reason for being online, using VPN solutions can improve privacy and security and SpiderVPN solutions can be highly beneficial for the gaming experience by addressing the following:
Attain the best speeds and avoid bandwidth throttling
Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will limit or purposely slow down your bandwidth for any number of reasons. One is at peak times to ensure everyone paying for the service has access and ease congestion on the overall network. Some ISPs will specifically target high usage connections. A VPN can help you avoid this by encrypting your data, making it considerably harder for an ISP to work out if you are playing a bandwidth-intensive game or merely surfing the internet on an online shop.
Avoid Lag and achieve faster ping times.
Following on from throttling, Lag is a huge issue in games. it’s incredibly frustrating when you are on a winning streak then you lag, lose connectivity, then when your connection is finally restored, you have lost. This happens because of ping times, the time it takes for data to be sent between you and the game server. By using SpiderVPN you can connect to a server that is close to the games server and therefore reduce ping times and therefore lag.
With both SpiderDAO and Exeedme coming from the Polkadot network this gives the projects a good footing to be able to collaborate and engage on a number of issues regarding interoperability, speed and governance within the blockchain gaming ecosystem.
Nuno Fernandes, CEO of Exeedme, shares his enthusiasm about the collaboration and has said the following about the partnership:

“We are excited to collaborate with Spider DAO to empower gamers to exeed themselves. For gamers, attaining the best speed, avoiding bandwidth throttling, lag and achieving faster ping times are critical issues that Spider DAO can solve with decentralised software built on Polkadot. We are also excited to bring their gaming community onboard and bring them game mining and NFT rewards’’

The Spider DAO team is glad to be working together and is looking forward to a long and successful partnership to help gamers monetize their skills. In Spider DAO’s, Nathan Varty,own words:

“Everyone at SpiderDAO is excited to collaborate with Exeedme, as it is such a unique platform. Monetized gaming will be a real game changer for the industry in the years ahead and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”

About Exeedme
Exeedme is a trusted and fair Play2Earn ecosystem that allows gamers at all skill levels, developers and gaming communities to monetize their skills and efforts with the power of innovations like DeFi and NFT’s. With Exeedme, gamers can play their favorite games, challenge an opponent, bet on their own victory and earn rewards for participating and progressing, ultimately enabling ALL players to make money off their skills.
Telegram | Website | Twitter | Linkedin | Uniswap
About Spider DAO
SpiderDAO’s vision is to bring unparalleled online privacy to the end-user. As a Decentralized Autonomous Organisation (DAO), it requires addressing the shortcomings of current DAO frameworks. We do so through a multi-layered governance setup based on hardware and software tools on top of a Fair & Resilient Hardware-based DAO built on Polkadot.
Website | Telegram | Discord

I use alternative Facebook accounts to join sports gambling groups and stock investing groups to discuss certain things but want to keep my official name and account off those groups is why I use fake accounts. Recently with all these new stupid Facebook privacy rules for some reason the fake accounts I had got disabled and its gone. I tried make new ones with other emails and phone numbers and seemed to work for a day or few hours then boom disabled or asking to upload ID and even if I do it gets autobanned. I usually log in from my laptop or mobile phone so it must be recognizing the IP that made new accounts so thats why they are getting disabled. I got no issues logging into my real account anyday , anytime, even after making the fake accounts or switching between them. Kind of surprised because my real account has never been verified but interesting this account isn't getting flagged for verification or temporarily disabled which i flip between them. My question is how about those Facebook accounts that are 5-10 year old accounts like from 2008 , 2015 that you can buy online will logging into those instaban those accounts too ? I mean its like a guest coming over and using their Facebook on your laptop or phone / wifi so they should be no real reason it should get detected by the Facebook algorithm right ? I just want a account to be those betting , investing, and other Facebook groups without my real name and stuff being associated with it is the whole purpose. I have given making up making Facebook account because it autobans and disables it permanently so only option is buying aged Facebook accounts. Just don't want to pay 10 -50 bucks to get those accounts disabled too because its linked to other previously and newly made accounts. I even tried making a Facebook account clearing computer cache and with NORD vpn and it gets disabled too. I guess VPN dont really mask anything?

Hello all. Me as all of you here (unfortunately) that are dealing with this ungodly condition are running around in circles without much success and not knowing what to do should dig deeper in to this problem and not take antibiotics right away just coz uro said so!
First of all, you should try to connect this to any sort of sexual activity you may had. Was it protected, was it even you getting quick hand job from someone ? Have you touched your Johnson after grabbing handle in public restroom ? Or perhaps your Johnson touched toiled bowl ?
This is why: male prostate nor entire reproductive system should not contain any bacteria whatsoever. I can bet you take any 13 year old kid and run full test on him - you won’t find anything and hist prostate would be in perfect shape.
Anyhow, what I am trying to say is that even someone touching you after spitting on their hand/licking it or rubbing on their “down there” and touching your “mr. Johnson” is exposing you greatly to entire list of bacteria/infections like trich/chlam/mycoplasma/ureplasma/gonnorhea. Some of bacteria are intercellular and hide within bacteria like staphylococcus and etc. they won’t show on your urine tests unless are very aggressive at the beginning which seems to be pretty rare, typically when was transmitted via vaginal sex(based on posts if find online). Current testing mechanism like PCR are also total shit in detecting them if they are hiding/aggressive at the time of you getting tested.
Testing in the US is mainly based only on PCR and most people get false-negatives fairly often. Only test I know of that maaaaaayyy catch pathogens/bacteria is MicrogenDX. Samples of semen also fluid / prostatic secretion should be looked at under microscope to see what pathogens and infections. On top, some like trich/gono/chlam may be hiding and not easily show up, therefore you gotta provoke them to show some activity and increase chances of them being on your test material (semen/fluid/swabs/etc). There are few options on how you could provoke them.
I found great forum (it is Russian one) horn-prostatit.ru where are tons of people sharing their experiences finding the cause via proper thorough testing and treatment. Really surprised that we don’t seem to have many diagnostic options as the do there! I encourage you to at least check it out and see what can help you. You can use google translator to navigate and read posts/comments.
Addition: folks - use vpn, forgot to mention.

Have a plan to steal millions from banks and their customers but can’t write a line of code? Want to get rich quick off advertising click fraud but “quick” doesn’t include time to learn how to do it? No problem. Everything you need to start a life of cybercrime is just a few clicks (and many more dollars) away.
Building successful malware is an expensive business. It involves putting together teams of developers, coordinating an army of fraudsters to convert ill-gotten gains to hard currency without pointing a digital arrow right back to you. So the biggest names in financial botnets—Zeus, Carberp, Citadel, and SpyEye, to name a few—have all at one point or another decided to shift gears from fraud rings to crimeware vendors, selling their wares to whoever can afford them.
In the process, these big botnet platforms have created a whole ecosystem of software and services in an underground market catering to criminals without the skills to build it themselves. As a result, the tools and techniques used by last years’ big professional bank fraud operations, such as the “Operation High Roller” botnet that netted over $70 million last summer, are available off-the-shelf on the Internet. They even come with full technical support to help you get up and running.
The customers of these services often plan more for the short term than the long game played by the big cyber-crime rings. They have very different goals. Botnet infrastructures can be applied in lots of ways for different sorts of profit—cash, information, or political gain. There are many ways to make money off botnets beyond outright theft, such as using them to steal advertising clicks, generate spam e-mails for a paying client, or renting out bots for denial-of-service attacks. And the same basic principles used to distribute botnets have been creeping up in more targeted attacks to steal intellectual property or to spread the malware used in the recent “wiper” attack on South Korean banks and broadcasters.
So how easy is it to get into the botnet business? Well, Ars decided to find out. Given the surprising availability of botnet building blocks online, I set out to build a shopping list to understand how everything is bought and sold within this black market. It all started with checking sources through a few Web searches then making trips into Web forums I dared visit only with a virtual machine and Google Translator’s help. All I had to do was paste in “botnet” in Cyrillic, and I was on my way down the rabbit hole.
To assemble your list for some of the simplest get-rich-quick schemes, all you need is about $600, a little spare time, and no compunctions about breaking laws to make a profit. I didn’t deploy an Ars-enal of botnet destruction in the end, but I absolutely could have. That may be the scariest lesson here. It looks like you’re trying to build a botnet… There are no personal shoppers to help walk you through the underground marketplaces to identify what fits a particular criminal scheme—though there may be plenty of people willing to give you paid advice on how to get started.
With absolutely no budget for bitcoins, I got my start with some help from Max Goncharov, a security researcher for Trend Micro who specializes in following the Russian underground marketplaces for online fraud services. Goncharov came to Washington, DC in late March for a Trend Micro press briefing, and he laid out some of the basic things that go into a beginner fraudster’s software and services shopping cart: botnets, malware-spreading tools, and hacking for hire. (Goncharov detailed some of these services in a paper published late last year and presented during this press road show.)
Goncharov’s suggested setup came with a $595 price tag for the first month of operations and a monthly cost of $225 to sustain the operation. Of course, that price is for a particular type of botnet. It isn’t representative of everything that’s running wild on the Internet today. It also assumes total noob-hood. For those seeking to do something a little less overtly criminal than stealing credit card numbers or committing wire fraud, there are less expensive options. With a little sweat equity, you can pull off a workable botnet for a fraction of that price. If you’re willing to try it without the benefits that come from paying professionals—like software updates, monitoring services, and 24/7 technical support—you can cut the cost back even further.
With my rough estimate in place, it was time to actually start some research of my own. Hello overseas VPN connection, Google Translator, and Google.ru—time for the underground hacker marketplace. The marketplace of (bad) ideas The “underground” forums do more than just give would-be criminals access to a level of service that might make some enterprise software companies look bad. They also act as a sort of hiring hall for people with very specific skills (like hacking webmail accounts) or botnets of their own ready to do a paying customer’s bidding. On these barely underground sites, hacker wares are made available to anyone willing to pay. Current versions of Zeus and SpyEye botnet software are for sale, or you can find the last version cracked by someone for cheap or free.
Many of the sites run under the thin veneer of “security” discussion boards. But they’re often paid for by advertisements for the tools sought by a certain class of cyber-criminal: botnet-herders and the service provider ecosystem that has sprung up around them. These are largely the small and medium businesses of cybercrime, following a well-worn approach to making money. If you cast a big enough net, you’re bound to catch some fish. The botnet herders’ standard business plan is to “use exploit kits, and then run a phishing campaign or some sort of campaign against massive numbers of people with hopes that someone is going to click on a link and get the exploit to drop a botnet or banking trojan onto their machine,” said Nicholas J. Percoco, senior vice-president of Trustwave and head of the company’s SpiderLabs penetration testing and security research team.
“Once they’ve done that, it goes down the path of them monitoring them when they do banking transactions, or the botnet may be involved in spam or distributed denial of service attacks. Or maybe it’s a sort of Swiss Army knife botnet that can do many different things depending on what that botnet herder decides, or what he makes it available to do for people who want to utilize his or her botnet.” No matter what the racket, Percoco told Ars, the equation for botnet herders is the same. “From a criminal’s perspective, they’re looking at massive numbers of attacks to achieve their financial goals.” They’re also looking at massive turnover.
When a piece of malware like a botnet lands on thousands of PCs, “it may hit the radar of an antivirus company pretty quickly,” Percoco noted. That means time and money spent on finding new victims, deploying patches and updates, paying for new exploits, and generally continuing the game of “whack-a-mole” with antivirus companies and other organizations—as the mole. Building a botnet shopping list I did some additional research afterward to check Goncharov’s math, and I also looked at some alternative approaches. The underground software market for hacking, fraud, and botnet tools has matured to the point where developers provide most of what you’d expect from legitimate software and online service providers—maybe even more.
There’s full support for the paid services, including 24/7 voice support in some cases, in a business where positive word of mouth in forums is the best (and often only) advertising. And there’s no shortage of “consultants” to help you get started. Botnet software itself is an important part of the whole equation, but it’s only a fraction of first-month startup costs—and one that’s fungible if you’re willing to invest some of your own sweat equity in the setup (or dispense with the “legitimate” route and use a cracked version without software support). Just like any Internet business, launching a financial fraud botnet—or any kind of long-running botnet endeavor—requires a sustainable business plan. You need to know your target market, ensure distribution, keep your installed base a step ahead of the competition, and keep your business processes secure.
Here’s a typical botnet-herder’s startup shopping list: A “bulletproof” VPN Before you start building a bot army of incredible magnitude, you need— just as with any other hacking endeavor of questionable legality—to hide yourself from prying eyes. That means using some sort of tool to avoid monitoring by your ISP, law enforcement, and other cybercriminals. Generally speaking, the best way is a virtual private network. As confessed LulzSec member Cody Kretsinger found out, not all VPN providers are created equal. He used a service called HideMyAss.com, a VPN and proxy service run by UK-based Privax Ltd. Unfortunately, he didn’t read the company’s privacy and legal policies, and they gave up his logs when law enforcement came knocking. “Bulletproof” VPN services are ones that claim to be shielded from law enforcement requests because of their location or logging practices.
Many of these services have disclaimers about “abuse” of the services, but the fact is that they take a number of anonymous forms of payment (CryptoVPN, for example, accepts Liberty Reserve, Bitcoin, and a number of other similar anonymous payment services). At worst, these services may just cancel your account if it attracts too much trouble. A typical “bulletproof” VPN service, such as CryptoVPN runs about $25 a month. If you’re thinking long-term, you can sign-up for $200 a year. However, it’s best not to think long-term if you’re botnet-herding; it may behoove you to change services every now and then to keep your profile low. Budget Botnet Shopper’s Price: $25 / month. A “bulletproof” host Once you’ve got your network secured, you need some place to host your botnet’s command and control network and all of the other assorted badness needed to launch a massive assault on the unsuspecting world. For those without the skills, time, or desire to simply go hack someone else’s server every couple of weeks, that means buying a dedicated or virtual dedicated server from someone who doesn’t care what you’re doing—lest your botnet’s nerve center be wiped during a security sweep or seized by law enforcement.
There are many kinds of “bulletproof” hosts catering to various kinds of customers. Most of them buy space in data centers around the world in places with either weak data privacy laws or plain disregard for what other countries’ laws say. This provides a sort of insurance policy for their customers, Goncharov said. At a minimum, the data on the servers won’t be given up to law enforcement. Some are smaller hosting companies such as Hostim VSE, a Romanian hosting company with a Russian language website more targeted at protecting pornographers, pirates, and other targets of DMCA takedown requests. Hostim VSE publicly denounces botnetters and financial fraudsters to prevent attention from local law enforcement. It describes “bulletproof hosting” as “hosting resistant to complaints and other types of attacks on competitors.
When placed on a standard website hosting, your site can receive complaints from competitors under the guise of copyright holders. In consequence of this, most other hosting providers disable your site until the circumstances [change]. We also review all such complaints, check its validity, conduct a site audit, demand [the accuser] to produce documents confirming the rights, and otherwise deal with all to settle the conflict, and only then disable the client’s site.” All of this, the company says with a wink, takes a lot of time and human resources, and as a small company there may be some delays before it gets around to it. In other words, “don’t worry—we’re inefficient.” Hostim VSE’s dedicated servers start at $39/month with additional charges for more bandwidth.
The company also, ironically, provides DDoS protection and other support services. But prices for its services will rise dramatically if you’re attracting too much attention or using too much bandwidth. For really hard-core criminal undertakings, there are the more specialized underground “bulletproof” hosting services that are run specifically for malware owners. These offer hosting at a significant markup in exchange for looking the other way. These operations generally don’t maintain webpages. They advertise strictly in underground forums and do business over ICQ, Jabber, and other instant messaging. Mihai Ionut Paunescu, the 28-year old Romanian behind underground host powerhost.ro, was caught in December by Romanian authorities. His servers were home to the Gozi financial malware command and control network.
Paunescu kept tabs on exactly what sort of business his users were up to and charged accordingly. In some cases, the rates reached thousands per month, averaging better than a 100-percent margin on the servers he managed. Of course, many of these hosting companies provide support (in some cases, 24-hour voice support via phone or Skype) and help with configuring Apache and MySQL on dedicated hosts for customers who are generally clueless about such things. Budget Botnet Shopper’s Price: $50/month, plus spot “consulting.” Bulletproof domains and “fast flux” In order for your bots to reach your host reliably, you need some domain names—fully qualified domain names that allow you to have full control over the domain name service (DNS). You’ll want a bunch so you can avoid making yourself obvious in the DNS logs of networks that get infected. You’ll also want to register those domains with a registrar that’s not going to roll on you and shut you down on the first complaint of abuse. You need someone who will shield your identity from the prying eyes of security firms and law enforcement.
In other words, you want a bulletproof registrar. Preferably, it’s one that accepts payments via Western Union or some other anonymous service. Of course, it’s never a bad idea to have some additional protection to make sure that you cover your trail completely by using a “fast flux” scheme. This hides your servers’ true location by assigning the DNS addresses to a rapidly changing set of proxies. Fast flux providers will take your domains —or even register them for you—and then assign host names to a collection of their own bots. These in turn pass traffic between your bots and your server. By using a short “time to live” for the host “A” name records in the DNS server, fast flux systems create hundreds of potential communication paths for the bots. Fast flux service is costly.
An advertisement on one forum recently offered to support five DNS name servers for customers starting at $800. So for most starting botnet operations getting their feet wet, just registering a few domain names may be enough to begin with. Budget Botnet Shopper’s Price: $50 for five domains. Your choice of botnet / C&C platform The current editions of botnet-building frameworks are sometimes sold by their developers for premium prices. Carberp was sold by its developers prior to their recent arrest for a whopping $40,000 as a kit, while the current Zeus toolkit sold for about $400 when it first hit the market. But the market pays what the market can bear, and most first-timers can find less expensive options that are easier to sustain. Do-it-yourselfers who don’t care about things like patches and full support can find “cracked” versions of some of these toolkits (or ways to disable their licensing code) for free.
There’s also an option to pick up older but still supported versions on the aftermarket. Zeus’ source code was released to the world last year, sort of turning it into “open source,” so you can now purchase supported versions of it for $125, plus $15 per month for updates to the code and $25 for monthly 24/7 new customer support. That could include everything from helping a noob fix a misconfigured server to doing a whole walkthrough of configuring the PHP scripts and MySQL backends for the system over Skype. You could always just use one of those YouTube guides, though, and save some money. Budget Botnet Shopper’s Price: $125, plus $40/month for support. Web attack “injector” kits The Zeus botnet’s market dominance has created a whole additional ecosystem of software add-ons to make its bots do various things.
A big part of that market is “injectors”—the add-on modules that tell the bot what to watch for in browser activity and what code to inject into the browser when it visits targeted websites. There are financial botnet injectors that insert Web code into banking sites. These injectors try to grab your personal information to hijack your account, make wire transfer withdrawals, or even change the values presented in your online statement to conceal all of it. Other types of injectors could be used for things like click-fraud— changing the links that users click on to direct them to different websites, while sending a referral code to a Web advertising provider to collect the pay-per-click. Some new botnets have been configured to simply generate clicks in the background on webpages without the computer user seeing them, creating ad revenue without the user scratching his head about why he ended up on a Russian porn site instead of the car insurance site he was trying to visit. Beginners can buy injector packs for a set of banks through marketplaces and pay for direct support to help install, tune and customize them. In some cases, these require some server setup as well to properly harvest the data collected.
It sounds complicated, but there are people happy to help you figure it all out for a small fee. Budget Botnet Shopper’s Price: $80, plus $8/month for support. An exploit tool or service In order to take command of victims’ PCs, a bot herder needs a reliable way of defeating the basic security provided by operating systems, browsers, and e-mail anti-virus scanners. That usually means relying on an “exploit pack” or some other crafted application exploit. The modus operandi of most bot herders is to use Web links as the delivery method for their malware, sending out streams of spam to potential victims in the hope that someone will fall for their social engineering. One click leads to a webpage set up to drop a package of nastiness on them. There are ready-made exploit packs, loaded with code written specifically for the purpose of planting malware on victim’s PCs that can be purchased and installed on a Web server or “rented” as a service. Botnet builders can rent capacity on these services or outright buy them.
A Phoenix exploit kit (like the one used to seed the recent Bamital botnet), can be purchased for $120, plus another $38 per month for patches and technical support, according to Goncharov. BlackHole, another market leader in exploits, offers its latest and greatest as a leased service for $50 a day, with extra fees for traffic overages. BlackHole also comes with an Oracle-like annual license for those who want to deploy on their own server. That costs $1,500 per year, with various add-on functionality fees. Budget Botnet Shopper’s Price: $120 for the kit, plus $38/month for support. Crypters and dropper builders The problem with just pushing a Zeus bot in its raw form out to targets through an exploit is that the Zeus bot is bound to be detected by antivirus software because of its signature. To prevent that, botnet-herders turn to “dropper” malware that disguises the bot trojan, delivering it in encrypted form to disguise the file signature of the trojan and its associated files. Creating a “dropper” requires the services of a malware “crypter.”
Some are sold as straight software, with added services to see if the signatures of built droppers have been picked up by antivirus companies’ databases. Others are sold purely as a service, with timer-based licenses, and may include the antivirus signature check as a built-in service. There are even crypter services now available on the Web, delivered as a service. One such service offers dropper-building at the rate of $7 per “sample.” Another key to not getting caught is “antisandbox” code that detects if the malware has been dropped onto a sandboxed system or virtual machine— such as those used by digital forensics experts and security analysts. If the code detects that it’s been deposited inside such a system, it can prevent the botnet trojan from being deployed and giving up the nature of the code it carries.
Antisandbox code is a feature of some crypters. If you want to save some money—and aren’t particularly concerned about whether your bot gets picked up after a while by antivirus scans—there are sites offering “cracked” crypter kits for free. Special delivery: Spam and social engineering services But wait! You still have to deliver the exploit link to drop your botnet package on your unsuspecting (or possibly suspecting) victims. How do you get them to click on that link? The traditional route is by blasting semi-convincing spam messages and hoping people are dumb enough to click on a link in them to see a video, download a document, or reconfirm their PayPal information. That typically means buying a spam blast, often from another botnet operator. Some spam-masters have moved their focus to social networks and charge not per message but per hit. You can spam out to social networks and over SMS with clickjack links using “borrowed” credentials or leave it to the professionals to do it for you for around a buck per thousand targets. But that’s the old-fashioned way. The new-fashioned way is to use “spearphish” attacks that use social information about the target in some way that convinces them to click the link, either through a social network message in a compromised account or an e-mail that appears to be from a friend.
If you want to make it even more convincing, you can always pay someone to hack a victim’s e-mail address to get access their account and contacts. Then it’s a simple as posing as the victim to fool all their friends. For beginners, spam remains the best bet. It can be used to hit a variety of potential targets and it’s relatively cheap: cheap spamming services can run as little as $10 per 1 million e-mail addresses, with better services based on stolen customer databases running five to ten times as much. Budget Botnet Shopper’s Price: $50 for an initial blast to qualified addresses. Economies of scale Using our budget shopper prices, that adds up to about $576 for the first month of operation. None of these purchases guarantee success, obviously, and it could take multiple spam attempts and help from other specialists to finally establish that botnet you’ve dreamed of.
Even then, the payoffs are not necessarily that big. There’s a glut of botnets already out there and botnet herders may be up against a short window before detection. On the upside, it’s an easy game to buy into—unlike the bigger, more enterprise-scale cyber-crime rings behind big corporate data breaches. While the whales of the cybercrime game may share some of the basic technology approaches with their smaller cousins, they have more in common with the intellectual property stealing “Advanced Persistent Threat” (APT) hackers alleged to be associated with the Chinese military (though they may surpass them in skill). Trend Micro Chief Technology Officer Raimund Genes said during the DC briefing that he thought the recent alleged Chinese APT attacks had been uncovered largely because they lacked the finesse of Eastern European cybercrime rings.
The bigger financial hacking organizations—which are a small number of organizations of hundreds or perhaps even thousands of people—operate in their own closed forums, sometimes on “darknets,” where you can only gain access by being invited. While there’s some use of botnets by the major cyber-crime rings, they tend to want to protect their investments in the more specialized, targeted attack tools they use. Botnet use is sparse in that space. “Once they get access to the environment,” Percoco said, “they then deploy custom pieces of malware that are sometimes written from scratch, brand new, never been utilized before—and they plant them on specific systems within the environment.” As a result, the data breaches caused by these targeted hacks can go on for months, even years before being detected.
A study released by Percoco’s team at Trustwave in February found that the average targeted attack went more than 210 days before it was detected. And this detection was usually because of a customer complaint or notification by law enforcement or a payment processor, not because antivirus software detected the hack. At some companies, the hacks lasted more than three years without being detected, all while millions of credit card transactions and other data were being pumped back to the hackers.
Botnet operators generally go big or go home in their attacks. But the tools they use can just as easily be applied to the long game if they’re used in a targeted fashion and they apply some of the lessons learned by the bigtime hacking organizations. “Swiss Army knife” botnets and remote administration tools can be used as part of a poor man’s APT by those who are willing to take the time to do the research and social engineering to get their malware in the right place. And just because Zeus and other botnets are a known threat doesn’t mean they can’t be used in stealth. According to the siteZeusTracker, the average detection rate for Zeus binaries by antivirus software is only 38 percent. And that’s for known Zeus botnets.

This is a response (A VERY LONG ONE) to the previous submission regarding the perceived impoliteness of the left and / or the center-left on this sub.

Thank you for the insightful post russian-statistican, but I hope you too will understand why exactly so many people are seething mad at the modern conservative movement (specifically the UCP).
This sub gets labelled as an echo chamber, but I would like to propose that there are a lot of pissed off Albertans who are currently powerless to stop many of the revolting decisions that the UCP is making.
I understand that anger and sarcasm and negativity and personal attacks do not in general sway people, but hey, neither does racism, bigotry and cutting healthcare during a pandemic. It's 100 percent natural to get angry when one group of people have decided your mom or your dad doesn't deserve a physician in their small town. It's 100 percent natural to get angry when Kenney makes remarks about how old people only make it to 82 anywyay.
Here's a summary of all the reasons it's sometimes hard to remain calm when discussing our province with UCP supporters:

• Section 1 - Racism / Bigotry

In my many decades in this province there is a never ending supply of homophobic, racist conservatives who are either overtly racist, or subtly racist. It just depends on the area and the social progressiveness of that area. In many ways the subtle racism is a much bigger issue here as I will describe below.
We literally have made global news several times in the past few months / year for the following:

• A sticker implying sexual acts towards Greta Thunburg. We made every news outlet on the planet. The RCMP had to literally consider if it was CP... And no, it's not just one bad apple of a company. There are anti-Greta stickers on thousands of F150's in this province.
  
• Another racist sticker a few weeks ago targeting the aboriginal community. How many disgusting stickers are produced in one province??
  
• Discriminatory LGBT policies that were not a surprise to anyone looking. It was literally in their election platform - see. GSA issue
  
• A leader who at the very, very least was overtly homophobic in his 30's https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/kzvnea/alberta-ucp-leader-jason-kenneys-anti-gay-speech-surfaces-on-world-aids-day And yes, Trudeau had blackface on because somehow that absolves Kenney apparently. -- Oh and Kenney was just a kid in his 30's when he said that. Kenney didn't just say something homophobic, he literally took action against a minority segment of our population in what is arguably one of their darkest hours. https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/the-young-zealot-part-1
  
• Literal UCP candidates that were (or still are) bigoted as fuck : https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ucp-calgary-mountain-view-new-candidate-1.5065385 "On Tuesday, CBC obtained new messages that showed her questioning whether there were any "redeeming values" in LGBT Pride parades", "Private Facebook messages, which CBC has verified, show Ford once lamented there was a double standard for white supremacist terrorists."
  
• There's this gem https://pressprogress.ca/ucp-candidate-said-his-thoughts-on-cardston-alberta-are-coloured-by-aryan-undertones-in-bizarre-lette
  
• And here's a few fine upstanding gentlemen discussing progressive politics. Just kidding it's fucking Nazi's at the UCP pub night : https://thegauntlet.ca/2018/10/16/soldiers-of-odin-attendance-at-ucp-pub-night-a-bad-sign-for-alberta-politics/ How often do they show up at NDP rallies? Not often I'd venture.
  

*
*Section 2 Election tampering
https://www.macleans.ca/politics/what-a-kamikaze-mission-reveals-about-jason-kenney/

"He was joined by Wendy Adam and her husband Udo, who both have long histories within Alberta’s conservative politics. In a six-minute segment of audio that Mr. Hudson posted online, Ms. Adam explains that Mr. Callaway was preparing to enter the UCP leadership race, which already had two apparent front-runners in former Wildrose leader Brian Jean and the eventual winner, Jason Kenney. “Jeff is going to run a serious campaign, but the reason that we’re running Jeff as a serious campaign is because Jeff will be able to say things about Brian Jean that Jason Kenney cannot,” said Ms. Adam, who confirmed it is her voice on the recording but otherwise declined to comment. “It’s a kamikaze mission,” Mr. Hudson replied.

TLDR; Jason Kenney got his friends to run a candidate to fuck over Brian Jean via vote splitting. Right at this point, at this moment in time, JK should have had his ass kicked out of the party and out of politics forever. Shit like this does not happen without a payoff and you'd have to be a stump to not understand who it benefited.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ucp-leadership-voter-fraud-membership-lists-data-1.5091952

Former UCP MLA Prab Gill has alleged in a letter to the RCMP that the Kenney leadership campaign used fraudulent emails to intercept personal identification numbers needed to cast a ballot in the leadership race. Gill said those PINs, which should have been sent to individual members, were then used by the Kenney campaign to vote for Kenney.

Are you fucking kidding me? Is this a joke? A UCP MLA ie. someone inside the fucking party told the CBC that JK went to these lengths to commit election FRAUD. And we elected this person? Is it still time to be polite? Our democracy was just fucked over right at this point.
What has the RCMP done about this? Absolutely, absolutely fucking nothing. One of the minions got a fine and is probably getting 100k for logo design in the war room.
I want to re-iterate how insulting, how dangerous, how mind-numbingly awful the VPN fraud and the Kamikaze fraud are. They are a direct attack on the fundamental democratic freedoms in our society. Election tampering has stiff penalties (except in AB apparently) for a good reason.
Holy shit this is getting too long and it's sunny out. Ah fuck it, I'm unemployed and can't find a bike anyway.
**Section 2 Economic policy
I'm going to attempt to be brief here, as I think the economic policies are discussed to no end and I'm rambling, but..

• In the middle of one of the worst pandemics in a century, JK continues to go after nurses, physicians and healthcare funding in general. Think about that. We are in the midst of a war so to speak and this person has decided to shit on the troops.
  
• Should I be enthused about that? Would conservatives be super polite if the NDP sent the military overseas and decided they aren't that valuable and should probably be paid less? Hmmmmm I wonder....
  
• The tax cut. https://www.cchwebsites.com/content/pdf/quickcharts/ca/en/business/269pb.pdf We're going to hit 8 percent in a few years. We're going to be 2 points lower than any other region in the Country. For what reason? This was supposed to be the magic pill. It's the one trick pony that the right thinks will cure all. Yet downtown Calgary is being evacuated like red shirts on a star ship. Where's the jobs? I was under the assumption tax cuts always work, and will always make it better?
  
• Diversification. Not since Lougheed have we seen a leader at least make a serious attempt at creating an infant industry which could potentially hedge our bets down the line. Except for Notley, whether you agree or not with her policies - she did try. Instead, Kenney decided to do away with film tax credits, technology subsidies and many others that I'm sure I'm forgetting. I don't think OnG is dead. Not by a long shot. But we've had decades to hedge our bets and we are utter fools if we don't at least make an attempt to create a welcoming environment for other industries. And again, the tax cut is clearly not bringing them here in droves as was promised.
  
• Education (see diversification) Cutting K-12 and post secondary is self-defeating in the long term. It is a short term cash grab at the expense of our future economy. Even if you don't give the slightest shit about poor kids getting an education, you are condemning our province to economic hardship down the road. The glory days of $100k jobs with just high school are gone. Gone and dead. The education system is literally the economic engine of the province. The engineers, the geologists, the accountants that were formerly with Encana - yeah, they had an education. And there's a good chance it was the UofC, UofL, UofA, MRU who gave them the skills to get those jobs. So when post secondary is vilified (in the same way healthcare professionals are), we get angry. Education is a primary economic driver, it's an insurance policy against economic downturns and it is the single most powerful equalizer in society. But the UCP disagrees.
  

*Section 3 BLM / race and broader policy making
Many conservative policies are not overtly racist upon initial inspection. They fly under the banner of fiscal responsibility. When little bits of CBE funding are cut, those cuts eventually trickle down to the poorest members of society (guess who). When the CBE has to increase bus fees or other basic essential programs, that directly hurts the minority members of our society as they are the ones who are unfortunately at the bottom rung economically. You can apply this pattern to the entirety of the social safety net. Healthcare, social services, you name it.
*Section 3 A the protests
Why did the entire western world have protests over the course of the past few weeks? Those issues surrounding race weren't exclusive to policing. They were systemic from top to bottom. And the UCP is a perfect example of that horrendous, hideous mindset. JK and friends know perfectly well the cuts made to the social safety net will not have one iota of effect on the white family living in Elbow Park with a Glencoe membership. They voted for him and they know their private clinics, their soon to be private hospitals and their private schools will be insulated from the folks in Taradale. The price to be paid however, is shitty education, non existant healthcare and less overal social services for the poor minority in forrest lawn. That 4 percent that JK cut? Which of these two families are benefiting and which one just lost a physican? need a hint?
In conclusion (and if you've read this far, you probably deserve a tax break yourself) I want to say these issues aren't just going to harm Albertans, they are going to literally kill Albertans. Down the road, we're going to see overwhelmed public healthcare that can't accomidate your mother or your father or your sister. The poorest members of society won't get the education previous generations had and the cycle will repeat.
We're going to see POC / minorities further marginalized because they can't access the neccisties of mother fucking life. We see this in the US right now. The people in the streets aren't oblivious to this. They are risking their lives and dying because they are getting a raw deal across the mother fucking board, while the rest of society enjoys stock buy backs and tesla's.
You ask me to be polite. You ask why people are getting angry. Conservatives are silent on these issues, because the ideology is at ease with a system that punishes the poor at the benefit of the wealthiest. This is why we're angry and the time to be silent has passed.

edit: thank you for the awards, but please consider using those funds to donate to the official opposition instead: https://secure.albertandp.ca/page/contribute/gendon (do let me know if you did, that would bring me great happiness!)

NOTE: This was originally written for week 9, but I was a bit late to putting this up. But I guess it fits a lot of the week 10 material, so I hope this isn't too out of place.
There's been a lot of talk of privacy this week. To me, at least, the rise of surveillance capitalism is probably the worst thing to happen to the internet. Corporations tracking and storing personal or impersonal data, from simple things like your IP address to complex browsing habits just to show you targeted ads is abhorrent. Yet, it's one of the most pervasive and pestilent methods of making money online, and therefore there's little each of us as individuals can do about it, because companies like Google or Facebook just make too much money to stop. Even on this subreddit, I've seen some pretty disheartening threads on how much we rely on Google. There also exists the pretty horrible practice of using Google/Facebook's resources on third-party websites, such as the infamous Facebook Pixel, or the unfortunately ubiquitous use of Google Analytics, both of which lets these two companies profile and track you even if you never use their products.
But we can take back control over our own data. While it's gotten to be unfortunately impossible to be completely airtight on the internet without greatly unconvincing yourself, you can still clamp down on enough to not have to worry about things like advertisers tracking you across websites, or be able to compile a coherent 'profile' about you.

Browser extensions

The very first steps you can take are as simple as installing browser extensions. On PCs, this is very likely the biggest improvement to privacy you can make, because a good selection of passive extensions can isolate and block most trackers.
Probably the one class of extensions that most of us are familiar with is the ad blocker. There's really only one choice you should make for this - uBlock Origin. Most other adblockers (AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, AdGuard et cetera) aren't open source software, and some of them have been known to take money from google to let google ads through. uBlock origin isn't just an ad blocker, it's a pretty powerful content blocker - it blocks some trackers as well.
Other useful extensions are more specific. I always recommend two extensions by the EFF, a nonprofit dedicated to defending digital privacy: HTTPS everywhere, which attempts to force encrypted (HTTPS) connections, and Privacy Badger, which automatically blocks most trackers, and also learns to block new ones as you go along. For cookie management, I recommend either setting your browser to its 'strict' setting, or using something like Cookie Autodelete. Frequently getting rid of cookies is important, because they're the easiest way for websites to persistently identify you across browsing sessions, and are therefore the most basic of personal tracking tools. Unfortunately, you may need to whitelist some sites out of the cleanlist, especially if you frequently use some websites without wanting to have to log in repeatedly (eg, your ASU account), as cookies are used to store information on login and session data. For CDN management, I recommend Decentraleyes, which is really a nice install-and-forget thing. It also can be a nice performance boost on connections with slow internet.
For the more hardcore, you may use uMatrix or NoScript, which gives you some extremely fine control over what's allowed on your browser and what isn't. They also brick most websites the first time they're loaded, so you have to configure them to not do that, which can be involved. uMatrix is much more powerful than NoScript, but more of a pain to use.

Web Browsers

Your choice of web browser is huge. Do not use Google Chrome. It's fast, but it eats RAM and is a gargantuan privacy nightmare. It's known to selectively keep data on Google's websites even after you request a purge.
I generally do not recommend chromium-based web browsers, because although the blink source code is public, Google still mostly controls it. Additionally, a web engine monoculture could, in theory, let Google selectively enforce web standards just like Internet Explorer did in the IE6 days. This mostly rules out Edge, and Opera. You could use smaller browsers like Brave, Vivaldi or Ungoogled Chromium, but I very strongly recommend using Firefox. Mozilla has a proven track record of protecting privacy, so much so that it's their primary point of marketing. Firefox is also open source, more resource efficient, and also renders most pages just as fast, if not faster, than Chrome does.
Apple's Safari is a surprisingly good choice, given that Apple seems to care about privacy, but it's closed-source and only available on Apple devices. Apple also has a terrible anti-consumer streak to its products, so I still recommend Firefox.

Search engines

Yet another area where Google remains dominant. It's surprisingly easy to switch, yet nobody seems to do it. The most popular privacy-focused alternative is DuckDuckGo, which I use and recommend everyone try. It's pretty good, but admittedly not as powerful as Google's search. It will, however got you to where you want 95% of the time. If you do need to use Google, you can prepend your search with !g and it'll automatically redirect you there. These are called bangs, and there are a whole bunch of them for different websites (like !yt for YouTube, and !w for Wikipedia). This feature alone makes it worth switching in my opinion.

Social Media

Burn it all. Social media is the scrouge of the internet, and unfortunately there's no good way to escape Facebook's claws if you use their site or Instagram. Use Firefox's containerized tabs if you mostly browse either through the web, and drill a hole through your phone if you use the apps. It's hard to pull away from either, but I've heard from people that formerly used these sites that not using either is an improvement. I cannot personally attest to this.

Cumbersome changes

These are changes that are harder to make, but still pay off.

Switch operating systems

Windows sucks. While I've mostly been strongly criticizing Google and Facebook, Microsoft is not innocent of egregious data collection. Windows sends large amounts of telemetry data back to Microsoft which can only be minimized and never completely turned off. And even this isn't a safe bet, because Microsoft occasionally ignores these settings.
Switch over to Linux. It's not easy, but I strongly recommend it over Microsoft. I'm a part of ASU's LUG (Linux Users Group), and we're open to all new members.

Install PiHole

You need a bit of networking knowledge for this. Purchase a Raspberry Pi or a similar small, cheap computer to just sit on your network, then install the PiHole software and tell your router that the Pi is your DNS server. This allows network-wide content blocking, which allows for things like trackers on your phone to be blocked by the raspberry while in your network, preventing them from even touching your device.

Very cumbersome changes

These are changes that are most likely not worth it to most of you. Most of these protect against governments, not private companies.

Use a VPN everywhere

At this point, most of you are familiar with VPN services, thanks to their nonstop advertising over YouTube. You may even have on that you use infrequently. Using one 24/7 comes at a pretty massive speed decrease, but is likely worth it if you're afraid of your government. I strongly recommend using a VPN with servers outside the 5 Eyes alliance.

Use Tor

Tor isn't perfect, but it's pretty powerful at anonymizing you, and hiding traffic, provided that you aren't the only person using it with your ISP. It's slow, and you'd have to be either insane or a pro-democracy journalist in a third-world dictatorship to use it as your daily web browser, but it's incredibly helpful to keep around for when you do need absolute privacy.

Set up PGP encryption on your email

Your email is not encrypted by default. A decent man-in-the-middle attack could snoop on it, and PGP encryption prevents that and a whole host of other attacks. However, PGP encryption only works if both clients support it, so it's likely that unless you're regularly in contact with another privacy nut over email, you'll never use it.

Convince everyone you know to switch over to a privacy-focused end-to-end encrypted messaging service.

Self-explanatory. Good luck, I haven't been successful in the slightest. Candidates are Matrix (Discord/Slack alternative), and Signal (SMS/iMessage/Whatsapp alternative). Both are excellent, Edward Snowden has endorsed the latter.

Closing notes and further reading

This list isn't perfect, nor would I describe it as complete, but I hope it's been useful to some extent. I've included some other links that I hope are useful if you're interested in learning more.
I encourage all of you to check out the privacy wiki page here. Seriously, it's an amazing resource for this sort of stuff.
I also strongly recommend going to https://www.privacytools.io/ at least once. It suggests many, many alternatives to tools and services you commonly use, and it's very convincing at getting you to care about your privacy.

First off, sorry for formatting. Using the mobile app at the moment.
Anyways, not sure if this belongs here or not but, Is there a way to make sports bets online when you are in a state where sport bets aren't legal? I live in Wisconsin and I'm not able to bet on the sport book apps while I am in Wisconsin. When I go to work in illinois, I can place the bets while I'm in illinois. Is there a way around it? VPN doesn't work. Is there a way to spoof your location?
Thanks!

I would say that I'm relatively new to reddit and the one thing that surprised me is the number of people that still play on Bovada, Ignition, Betonline, MyBookie, etc. Don't get me wrong, great sites for sports betting and poker, but absolutely horrendous when it comes to slots and live casino games.
Hitting 1,000x on a slot on Bovada is like a once in a lifetime achievement and the live dealer provider is... awful.
Over the past month or so, I have seen this subreddit flooded with random users promoting a bunch of shitty no-name crypto casinos that have been around for like 3 days. So I figured it was my duty, as somebody who has no ownership interests in any of these online crypto casinos, to share my thoughts regarding the ones that I believe are trustworthy.
First off, for those who aren't familiar with crypto casinos, the one thing that you need to know, as an American, is that you'll need to access these sites via a VPN. Personally, I use ExpressVPN and connect to Canada (or various other regions depending on which slot provider is available). The nice thing about ExpressVPN is that you can download the app and play on your phone. All of the casinos listed below allow VPN usage.
Second thing, KYC is not required. Honestly haven't looked into this too much, but I can tell you from first-hand experience that KYC is not required in order to register or withdraw funds. Some people have said you get KYC'd if you try to withdraw more than $2k, but again, I can confirm that it's not true (specifically for the casinos listed below). Just make sure that you only deposit/withdraw via crypto and you'll be fine. If you think this is sketchy, then please, continue making your credit card deposits at Bovada to random shell companies based out of China.
Also, DO NOT USE COINBASE TO TRANSFER TO AND FROM THE CASINO. They banned me. It hurt. Don't make the same mistake. I recommend using BRD as an intermediary between Coinbase and the casino.
Finally, I have wagered roughly $3.5MM in total across the sites below and have spent countless hours researching them, so I'd like to think that I somewhat know what I'm talking about. In no way am I an expert and in no way am I a high roller or a whale. Just a regular guy that enjoys gambling.
Now the common theme amongst the below casinos is that you have access to game providers such as Evolution (live games), Pragmatic, NetEnt, Thunderkick, Push, etc. that you'll never find on the casinos advertised as available to US players (such as Bovada). As I'm sure you know, Betsoft slots can get old after a while.
Just a few of my personal favorite games that I recommend you check out...
Live Games: Crazy Time, Monopoly, Evolution Blackjack and Evolution Speed Baccarat
Slots: Dead or Alive 2, Money Train 2, Lil' Devil, Sweet Bonanza and Dog House
​
Site #1: Stake
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, incredible VIP and rakeback system (weekly/monthly bonuses, rakeback can be claimed whenever, daily/monthly challenges to earn extra cash), active and friendly chat community, multiple crytpo deposit options where your account is credited in that currency (meaning your balance equivalent in USD will swing with the market-- could be seen as a con), enjoyable "Stake Original" games that have a higher RTP than 3rd party slots, averages ~2k users online at any given time
What I don't like: Honestly I spent like 30 minutes trying to think of a con and nothing came to mind
My largest withdrawal: $13.2k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH, LTC, DOGE, BCH, XRP (highly recommend-- cheap transfer fee, if any at all, and confirmed within seconds), TRX, EOS
You might be able to enter my username to enable the10% rakeback: "hkgambler13" (been a while since I joined so I can't remember).
​
Site #2: Roobet
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, generous rakeback system, instant bitcoin deposits (they will credit your account before receiving any confirmations-- this is really nice), every so often they'll run a 24 hour promotion where if you hit 100x on slot betting at least $1 you'll be "King Roo" (basically King of the Hill) and accumulate ~$20 per minute until you're dethroned
What I don't like: Rakeback system only allows you to collect every 24 hrs/1 week/1 month, no clarity surrounding VIP status (assuming you need to be a whale), there was one instance where I won $36k on a $40 bet playing Reactoonz and was told I can only withdraw $10k per day (this was 9 months ago and never had an issue withdrawing since), lack of sports betting
My largest withdrawal: $9.9k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH
If you want to enable the rakeback system without having to wager a shitload, feel free to use my code "hkgambler13".
​
Site #3: Gamdom
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, newly implemented rakeback system, constant "rains" in the chat (which is free money if you join in time), ability to instantly deposit and withdraw via Rust and TF2 items (could spend an hour talking about this-- generally caters to those who cannot get crypto or have to use a CC to buy crypto), averages ~1.5k users online at any given time
What I don't like: Prior to the newly implemented rakeback system rains were the only "rakeback", your balance is denominated in coins (1500 coins = $1 USD), browsing through their slot selection can be a pain in the ass
My largest withdrawal: $7.4k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC
If you use my code "chase" you'll get a free chest that could be worth up to ~$53.
​
Final parting words: PLEASE DO NOT GAMBLE WITH MONEY THAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE. Gambling is not a money making method and you will lose in the long run. The purpose of my post is to make those aware that other trustworthy online casinos are available for Americans that will (hopefully) make gambling online a bit more enjoyable.
Happy to answer any questions!

This won't include everything you can do, Some stuff I just don't think is worth it. I also won't include stuff that I personally haven't done or stuff I have had problems with getting the money. This will be pretty long but if you are new to this it is a pretty simple way to earn some cash
We are basically building up a pot of cash to matched bet
So if I have £0 this is what I would do to get to £1000
Make a new email so you are not spammed with crap, There will be a lot of offers/Cashback i have missed I would advise that when you sign up to these sites, etc and you get the hang of things you check for yourself to see what else they offer as there is a lot to do.
Best Offer - Xendpay £10 Bonus| Non-Ref (No Bonus) - See near bottom of post for details
Best GPT Site -GG2U ($1 Bonus ) |Non-Ref (No Bonus)
Matched Betting - OddsMonkey (£1 Two Weeks Premium | Non-Ref
I have also not put in any games that you can do as normally the payout for these change all the time but I would recommend checking what pays the most for them and then google a guide etc to see how long it would take as some can pay good, Normally on these games it speeds it uploads if you buy a pack on the game but if you are going to do this make sure you will still profit from the offer and you buy a pack which will speed it up instantly
I done a game before that paid £30, bought a £5 pack and it was done instantly tho that offer is not on these GPT Sites anymore
If you are going to lie when doing surveys etc make sure you remember what profile you are making etc and use it across all the sites that way its easier but I would recommend just being honest
Start by signing up to these sites
Neevo

• Sign up and create your account, Make sure emails are not going to spam and log in every few days to see if you have tasks

Clickworker| non-ref

• Create your profile, Once you do this click assessments and take the UHRS Test... Make sure you read everything start the quiz and pass it (It's not that hard ) You can also do some of the surveys and task on the normal page to earn some extra money

Appen | non-ref

• Different to the above sites, It's more like a part-time job/Full-time job but as you agree to work a minimum of 10 hours per week when you get accepted to a project - Normal Jobs pay $14 per hour but you can get jobs paying $25 per hour ( I never had these )
• I would only sign up here if you are looking for more long term online work/part-time, Currently, some of the projects are a little dead but well still worth applying here

Prolific.co

• Create your account and make sure it is completed to 100%, I recommend keeping a tab of the Study page open so you can grab them right away

I would sign up to the sites above as it can take a few days (weeks for to appen) to get anything through
Then do the following ( Starting with £0)
0-£50
Curve £5 Bonus | Non-Ref ( No Bonus )
Use My Code - DOXPRY3D
I don't think you get a bonus with no code, This is a mobile app so search for it in-app store
Sign up, Verify your account and order your card, To get the bonus you need to make a payment with the card, You are going to use this when you do your first gambling offer so that way you are maximizing your profits
Qmee (50p Bonus) | Non-ref ( No Bonus )

• Sign up through my link and you will get 50p bonus for doing a survey, You can then instantly cash out the 50p
• Do a survey till you reach £2 in your account and cashout ( I personally advise you don't use this site other than for this bonus unless the surveys are offering a decent amount )

Now you have £2, Do the following offers - I'm not allowed to post my link or the post will be taken down
First, do this offer - https://www.reddit.com/beermoneyuk/comments/gbh0te/freetrade_megathread_free_mystery_share_worth/
Then do this offers - https://www.reddit.com/beermoneyuk/comments/fqjeal/trading212_megathread_free_share_worth_up_to_100/
You need to sign up through someone's link, Create and verify your account and deposit £1, This will then get you a free random share between £3-£80, then free trade is £3-£200
Id appreciate it If you used my Trading212 Link, Its in that thread :)
Now it takes time to get your money from these, Trading212 is 30 days and free trade is 7 days but you can see what shares you got and their value
------
Now this is a very easy one to do but I'm, not 100% sure what you will get from it so I have no included this amount
Sign up to Coinbase Earn
Link - https://www.reddit.com/beermoneyuk/comments/jce62t/coinbase_megathread_post_all_referral_links_here/
I would really appreciate it if you signed up through my commented link on the post. This is a great offer to start, I helped someone do this recently and they got around £26 fees and withdraw tho you could get accepted into more or get a little less, All you need is ID to verify your account then click on Coinbase Earn at the top and try to do each lesson, The answers are very easy to get or you could just google them
Then do the Swagbucks bonus
Swagbucks ( Around £4 Bonus ) | non-ref ( No Bonus )
To get around £4 Bonus we need to earn 300SB within 30 days,
Do these two offers, Click on Discover then the following offer walls
AyeT- CyberGhost VPN Free Trial - 54SB
Adgem - Norton VPN Free Trial - 70SB
Also, install the Swagbutton, We both get a 100SB bonus, Go to and the Swagbucks home page, Left side of the page under "To-Do List " Click daily activity and it will take you to the install
Now do surveys till you get to the 300SB Limit or you can click into discover and do the little offers like above, So you can speed it up normally these little offers pay the same or there is very little difference from Swagbucks to other sites
-
GG2U ($1 BONUS)| non-ref ( No Bonus)

• Sign up and fill out your profile, Now click on Surveys and do either the $1 Yoursurveys or $1.25 Speak up Surveys

Prolific.co

• Create your account and make sure it is completed to 100%, I recommend keeping a tab of the Study page open so you can grab them right away

Populus Live

• These pay monthly but now they pay by bank transfer, Can get high paying surveys from these guys but you need to hit £50 to get a payout

-------
OhMyDosh £1 Bonus| Non-Ref (No Bonus)
Sign up here. Click on Surveys on the left-hand side and sign up through here to Panelbase, They pay £0.80 for this as signing up normally you get £0
Timebucks(I think $1 bonus) | Non-Ref ( No Bonus )

• The higher-paying surveys on here are under RevenueWall and Flapbucks
• Most I've had on Flapbucks was a £6 one and Revenuewall was £4 ( Don't do any under $1)

Keep open your Prolific tab and keep going at the GG2U $1/$1.25 Surveys, If you start running into being kicked out of them, I would move to Timebucks and give them a try on there, They pay less but me personally I have had more luck on there
PopulusLive will email you surveys and so should panel base but you could sign in and check what you have
After building up survey money ( £50 ), Do the following offers... In between doing these offers, you should still be doing surveys, or if you have a task on neevo/clickworkers even better.
(£50-£150)
MrQ| non-ref ( No free spins could be wrong tho )

• Deposit £10 also verify your number, You will get 10/20 free spins, Once you have used these go to Bingo and then "Free For All" This will give you 24 hours of free bingo. Try and make sure you play every free ticket to get the most money, It's every 2 hours from 9 am - 10 pm. Plays for an hour then 2-hour break
• Once you have played all your free bingo, Withdraw your £10 deposit and all your winnings from the spins and bingo

Now go back to GG2U ($1 BONUS)| non-ref ( No Bonus)
Click into "Offertoro"
The offer you are looking for is "Gala Bingo " and it will pay 3050.00 cent ( Around £24.50)
You need to sign up and deposit £5 on Gala Bingo and just wager the £5, So just buy £5 of bingo tickets... If you win any money great but I would just count this as a £5 loss to gain the £24.50 on GG27
Swagbucks ( Around £4 Bonus ) | non-ref ( No Bonus )
Click into "Discover" on the left-hand side of the homepage, Then click into featured offers and do the
Lottoland - 1300SB - Click the offer and it will take you to the sign-up and will cost £1 ( Make sure auto-renewal isn't on )
Quidco - REF ( £5 Bonus ) | NON-REF ( NO BONUS )
You get the £5 bonus once you reach the £5 cashback

• Once you have signed up search " MyHeritage" and take the £6.50 cashback for taking the free trial... Remember to cancel so you don't get charged.

TopCashBack - REF (£5 BONUS ) | NON-REF( No Bonus)
You get the £5 Bonus once you reach £10 confirmed cashback

• SearchLoto - £0.82 - Create your account, Make 25 Searched, and use Free Ticket.
• Experian - £3 - Sign up for a new account
• Graze - £2.47, Order your first box then cancel when it arrives
• Totally Money - £2.10 - Make an account and get a free credit report
• Tastecard - £3.30 - Free 2 Months trial

Now go back to
OhMyDosh £1 Bonus| Non-Ref (No Bonus)
Now do the following offers

• Gambing> Then William Hill Casino (£40 cashback)
• Click on the offer and make your account and deposit £10, Pick a game you want to play and either just do 20 auto-spins at 50p or do what you want just make sure you wager the full £10, So put it on auto spin so that when the auto spins end you have wagered £10

--
(£150-£300
Xendpay (£10 Bonus | non-ref( No bonus )
You are going to use £101 to do this offer, Sign up through my link and verify your account. Now you want to make a £101 transfer to yourself (Your other bank account) You will do pounds to euro, It will ask for a fee, Click on it and enter 0.00... Now input your other bank details, Then your card or you can make a bank transfer to them, Once you've done this it will unlock £10 for you, Repeat the above but this time do £10.01 and it will only cost you 0.01 ( Money should hit your other account in 2-4 days)
I would still be doing surveys but what i would do also is go through the Survey sites/Cashback sites and check all the offers they have even the little ones that you might only make £1 as you can normally do these really fast and I would just keep doing this stuff till I hit £300
£300+
Start Match Betting
I would start by using a service like
Oddmonkey Ref- Non-Ref
You will get 2 weeks premium for £1
Follow everything they tell you and you can't go wrong, If you have never had a gambling account before there is really good money to be made right away as you can do every offer but what you want to do is, For example, they tell you to make a Betfair account ( they will ) Check the Survey sites or Cashback sites and see which one will pay you the most for making a Betfair account (Sportsbook or Exchange )
If they are offering the Betfair Poker offer on cashback take that as its normally more profit than the other two if not just take one of the sportsbook or exchange ones
in between doing match betting, I would still be doing the surveys, etc nothing changes, As you could run out of money doing the matched betting, and doing the surveys is a great way to keep yourself generating the cash
--
Now there is a lot of offers I didn't post, So once you have made enough money you were happy with I would then come back on this subreddit and check which offers are worthwhile doing. Don't do the dumb ones where your money is tied up for 6 months and you get £10 back Because the way the world is right now no one knows if these companies will last and it's not a very good return on your money, Normally crypto offers are good for easy money but NEVER sign up to some dodgy site even if the reward looks good it just isn't worth the hassle

The Monthly Scribe

Congratulations everyone! You have all successfully navigated this joke of a year to the halfway point. Yep, only half way. If 2020 was condensed into a single day then we've only gotten to lunch time. Will you be having the collapsalad today? Or maybe some just-ice cream....get it? Because it's justice...but als- never mind.
In case you're new here, we pin a monthly thread in our subreddit to share and discuss updates with our users. You're also welcome to share any news, ideas, short stories and metaphors about internet privacy and security. What would Confucius say if he had internet privacy concerns?
"How can one be truly free while choosing to be tracked?"
"A man can live for himself or live for advertisers."
While you ponder such modern day wisdom, consider leaving a comment in this thread enlightening us with your revelations. Or just leave any interesting comment at all, entertain us! We will go through all of them at the end of the month and select a random comment to win 1 Year of Pro. The winner of June's thread was jelegend. Congrats, your 1 Year Pro code is in your inbox!

WTF Winners

For those who are unaware, we hosted an online competition called the Windscribe Transnational Film Festival. In it we asked our users to create short clips based on the randomly generated usernames that our website gave you.
We're happy to say that you folks did not disappoint, we received over 400 submissions! We spent a long while conferring about the clips, making fancy spreadsheets to score all the entries and after all videos were reviewed, we tallied up the results for the main categories and these were the winners:
Grand Prize - Pumped Banana Actor
Dank Story - Ordinary Pickle Decorator
Dank Production - Old Tree Fighter
Much Lulz - Electronic Face Fixer
Wholesome - Local Goldfish Painter
Mr. Strange - Powerful Pig Pastor
Popular Vote - Pumped Banana Actor
There were also 20 more runner up winners who each won $100 and 1 Year of Pro. All these submissions can be viewed on our website.
Congratulations to everyone who won! You should have all been contacted by now with the details for how to claim your prize.
We'd also like to thank everybody else who participated in the contest, this was our first step into hosting such events and it will certainly not be the last. Community involvement is something we love and strive for and consider this contest a huge success. If you still want to win something, tell us which submission you liked most in the comments and you will be entered to win this month's 1 Year Pro giveaway.

Windscribe Updates

Wireguard
Yes, you read that right, Wireguard is finally on the horizon. We heard you loud and clear, you all want the latest and greatest VPN tech and who are we to deny you that? We think it needs a new cool name though, something like CableShield or FibreFighter. We're open to all your suggestions, if you come up with a really good one we like and end up using, we'll give you some free Pro credit.
As we'd mentioned in previous discussions regarding Wireguard, some work would be required on the backend in order to facilitate the protocol on our servers. That's exactly what our team has been working on for the last month and the results are looking quite good. The performance gives almost your full non-VPN speed and some users have even reported seeing Wireguard speeds 3-4 times faster than what IKEv2 could give.
Don't get too excited just yet though, these were early results and there is still a fair bit of work to do before it's available on all our clients. Often times IKEv2 alone will get you to 95% of your ISP speeds so not everyone needs it. However, given the fact that this is a more modern protocol built by scientists, doctors and astronauts (don't quote us on that), you can expect it to function better than IKEv2 and OpenVPN to some degree. At the very least it won't be limited to one network port like IKEv2 is so you get the combined benefits of IKEv2's speed with the versatility of OpenVPN.
Right now we have connectivity to our servers using Wireguard configs so most of the backend functionality is complete. The mobile developers have been hard at work implementing the protocol into both the Android and iOS clients so these will be the first Windscribe apps to get Wireguard. Desktop users will also be able to connect using a separate Wireguard client. Our extremely talented, smart and handsome desktop app developers have their hands full already but the plan at the moment is to include Wireguard in the stable release of version 2.0.
We've also made a few new hires over the last few months to speed up the development on our applications. These fine employees passed some of the most rigorous testing we could throw at them including programming in Latin, designing a website underwater, and even jumping through flaming hoops. They made it look easy, so we had to have them on our team.
City-level Custom Configs
Back in the year 1471, a young Leonardo da Vinci wrote in one of his early journals:

Quando Windscribe avrà configurazioni personalizzate a livello di città?

Loosely translated, he was pondering the question of when Windscribe would have city-level custom configs. This early work of his has been passed down for generations all the way to the comments on this subreddit asking the same thing.
Well, they're finally here! As of today, you can get city-level custom configs for all your non-Windscribe VPN clients. How exciting is that? Static IP config files can now also be found on the same config generator pages, you no longer need to go through the port forwarding setup like before.

Boredom Bits

As we head into what seems to be a second wave of the pandemic, you are probably sighing at the thought of being bored at home again. Perhaps you're even swearing to yourself. If you are, you might have fun taking out the anger on this Swear Word Coloring Book. Show that book who's boss, you color outside the lines because no one can tell you how to live your life!
If you get too excited and start ripping the paper out of the book, don't throw it out! Instead, with just a few cuts and folds, turn the paper into a functioning V8 engine like this guy did. You can even add a throttle if you're feeling really fancy.
Like most people, you probably purchased a guinea pig during this quarantine, but now you're concerned about the harsh world that little Kevin the guinea pig must live in. If you have the coin ($24,300 USD specifically), consider investing in some hand-crafted guinea pig armor. It even comes with a metal helmet too!
If a guinea pig in armor doesn't do it for you, we have more pictures of funny animals. Well, funny cats specifically, we only post funny cats here.
Until next month! Place your bets on what the next global catastrophe will be. Aliens? Yellowstone eruption? AI takeover? Tweet us your guess on Twitter @windscribecom or discuss it at length in our Discord Server.

Nanowire - Buy & Sell Unused Bandwidth - https://nanowire.com

What is Nanowire?

Hi everyone. We're proud to officially announce the release of the Nanowire alpha, a micro-transaction bandwidth sharing platform where participants can buy and sell unused internet bandwidth using Nano. Easily earn Nano by sharing your internet connection, or rent any number of simultaneous proxy connections from the pool of bandwidth sellers using Nano.
There is no limit to how much bandwidth can be bought or sold, or how many proxies you can connect to provided there are enough sellers available on the network. We calculate the amount sold/bought on a per byte basis, but to give an example of the pricing structure in human-readable terms, it is currently set to charge/earn $0.50 USD per 1 Gigabyte of bandwidth. That works out to be 0.00000005 USD per byte worth of Nano, and because Nano has no fees the small size of this transaction isn't an issue and a perfect fit for the Nanowire platform. Nanowire is a good way to recoup costs and make a profit on your home internet connection, cloud or data-center servers. You could even run it on Raspberry pi!
We believe that Nanowire has a good chance to introduce Nano to a much larger audience of the general population:
On the selling side you could think of it as a dead-simple way to mine Nano without any technical prowess or expensive hardware. People who are yet to own, use or hear about Nano are now given an easy way to get Nano in to their hands without requiring any cryptocurrency expertise. Nearly everyone has an internet connection that is in a position to share some of it's bandwidth.
On the buying side, it can be useful as a privacy tool, to bypass censorship restrictions, scrape web data, perform multi-geo location website testing, create white-labelled VPN solutions, perform market research, automate online tasks, operate SEO data analysis, and much more.
We would love if you would give Nanowire a try and we especially encourage you to try both sides of Nanowire (both buying and selling). In order to experience the platform at its fullest there needs to be both buyers and sellers and it will show what the platform will feel like when there are many users and high demand and supply for bandwidth.
If you would like to join us on this journey our Discord channel is the best bet. A strong early community will break or make this, and we need interested users to help us build this network so that both sides (buyers & sellers) can experience a great service. Public voting goes live for the Nano Build-off submissions very shortly, and a vote from you would mean an enormous amount as it would help us fund further development and spread Nano to everyone across the globe.
An important final note: Please only sell bandwidth if you have an unlimited data internet plan, we don't want anyone to risk going over their data caps, although it's unlikely to happen at present as we still need to market this product to developers who need proxys to connect to or would like to use Nanowire as a backbone to create VPN solutions for customers. There's a huge market out there, but we need to tap into it. We also recommend only playing with small amounts of Nano at the moment while we experiment with Nanowire in it's alpha state, so we can weed out any bugs along the way. A couple of dollars is more than enough to experiment with.

Future ideas:

• Easy-to-use Desktop UI (at the moment it's a command-line app)
• DNS over SSL for added privacy
• Tools for developers (desktop client API, programming language libraries)
• Smart rate limiting, so so we can ensure your connection never experiences degredation
• Automatic slow-host pruning, uptime minimums, quality tiers
• Lots of statistics for sellers and buyers
• Additional connection protocols (VPN, etc)

Useful links:

Nanowire Homepage
FAQ page
About page
Our Github page (we're fairly active in the open-source community and will be open sourcing the desktop app very shortly): https://github.com/volatiletech

Social media:

We need your support to build our network! Please join us on social media if this project interests you.

Discord
Reddit
Twitter
You can also reach us at [email protected]

I've noticed a lot of redditors asking about streaming options. This is in no way a definitive guide, just an amalgamation of my knowledge regarding this topic.
Disclaimer: This is a post to share legal streaming options only. Please refrain from sharing any illegal streaming options in the comments. That is a bannable offence and Mods will take action.
Before we begin:
Here is a link to the Raptors reseeding game schedule (posted by u/MilesOfPebbles)
Here is a link to the Canadian broadcast schedule (posted by u/absolutkaos)
Contents:
If you live in Canada and want to watch the games
If you live outside Canada and want to watch the games
If you are anywhere in the world and want to listen to Raptors games over the radio
If you live in Canada and want to watch the games:
You have several options here.

1. Cable TV: TSN and Sportsnet will broadcast every single Raptors game. Every. Single. One. Even if come playoff time the broadcast schedule isn't released yet, don't worry. They will broadcast them one-hundred percent. Both will also have some other non-Raptor games on there.
   • Note that most basic cable packages do not include the channels TSN4 and Sportsnet One. These two channels are usually airing marquee match-ups exclusively so they are necessary to purchase from your cable provider. In the case of the reseeding games. Sportsnet has already announced that all its Raptors games will be exclusive to SN1. I don't believe TSN has announced channel details yet.
2. League Pass: This is really a last resort. You cannot watch any Raptors games live on here. Additionally, if one of Sportsnet or TSN is airing a non-Raptor game, it will be blacked out on League Pass
   • Edit: as pointed out by u/whocaresidont_ (link to comment), you can't watch blacked out games live. You can, however, watch them once they've been moved to the archives a few hours after the game (source 1, source 2)
   • You can purchase access to NBA TV via your cable provider that would also include access to a League Pass at no additional cost. With Bell, it is the "NBA League Pass with NBA TV Canada" premium sports package for $99 (access from October until end of season, I assume playoffs included) or $49.50 for January to end of season access (maybe?? You have to check with them). I'm not too sure about the price or duration with Rogers.
   • There has been some discussion regarding the use of a VPN. To avoid letting too much legal mumbo-jumbo interrupt the flow, I have moved this section to the end of the post. I highly recommend reading it if a VPN is something you are considering.
3. Sportsnet NOW gives you access to any NBA games broadcast on all Sportsnet channels (so not all of them). You get to watch the channels on a laptop or app, with a 24-hour rewind feature. Prices are $16.67/mo for 12 months, or a monthly subscription for $19.99. You can also subscribe to Sportsnet NOW+ which gives you access to more NHL content (and same NBA content as SNNOW).
4. TSN Direct gives you access to any NBA games broadcast on all TSN channels (again, not all games). You basically get to watch the channels on a laptop or app, no rewind feature. Prices are $4.99/day, $19.99/mo, or $99.95/6mo.

For comparison's sake, I have cable TV with Bell Fibe TV Fibe Alt TV (see edit below for more info). For $29.95/mo, I get access to TSN1, TSN2, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5, SN Ontario, East, Pacific, West and SN1. I can watch all Raptors games as well as some other non-Raptor marquee match-ups. I also have a play/pause option as well as a 1.5-hour rewind (only for the active channel). I don't have PVR cause I watch live, but I believe there's a PVR add-on available.
Edit: I also forgot to mention that with Fibe TV, I can watch on my TV, phone, iPad or laptop (web browser). And up to 2 simultaneous devices can be streaming at the same time.
Edit: To answer a couple of the questions I've been getting, I checked and turns out I have Fibe Alt TV premium. It's a TV service available as a bundle with certain Fibe Internet packages from Bell. It's much cheaper than going with the regular Fibe TV, but ultimately, you pay more because you're bundling with Internet. Also, shoutout to u/BowlbasaurKiefachu (link to comment), who used to work with Bell and has some referrals.
If you live outside Canada and want to watch the games:
Your best bet in terms of value and price would be the NBA League Pass. You have several options there. You can buy a pass that allows you to watch every single game for every single team (including playoffs); you can buy a one-team pass; you can buy single games...
Note #1: This is a blanket statement. Make sure to see what is available in your country/region and compare prices before you commit to the League Pass. Use the NBA International Broadcast Information website to find the broadcast schedule in your country/region of residence (this website does not include broadcast details regarding the scrimmage games). Beware because it is not completely up to date (some games might be missing).
Note #2: This might not apply in the US. I don't have any concrete information regarding this, but I would imagine that they blackout games too, especially the ones that are on national TV. I believe there might be other options such as cable TV, Hulu Live Sports, and YouTube TV. I don't have too much information about blackouts and the such with those services so please do your research before committing to any option.
If you are anywhere in the world and want to listen to Raptors games over the radio:
Games will be broadcast on one of three radio stations: TSN 1050, SN 590 The FAN, or 680 News. You can listen using your web browser (laptop or phone) by following the links in the previous sentence. Listening will cost you cellular data/wi-fi but the station itself is free. There will most probably be a short ad the first time you press play.
Alternatively, you can download the TuneIn Radio application on the App Store or Google Play Store and listen for free. This will also use cellular data/wi-fi. There are ads, but you can subscribe to remove them.
Note that both these options will have several seconds of delay, and are not free from interruptions (except maybe if you subscribe to TuneIn). Just so you mind your score notifications from other apps.
If you reside in the GTA, you can listen to those stations using your AM car radio or portable radio player (the AM frequency is in the title).
And there you go. This covers everything I know about this. Hopefully answers all your questions about how to watch or listen to Raptors games.

LET'S GO RAPTORS!!!!!

As promised: the legal mumbo-jumbo. Please note that I am not a lawyer nor a law student. This is simply what an internet search turned up.
Regarding the use of a VPN to access all games with an NBA League Pass in Canada:

1. Generally speaking, it is legal to use a VPN in Canada to protect online transactions. However, when it comes to accessing geo-blocked media, it is more of a grey area (you can read more here). Suffice it to say that:
   • There is currently no legal precedent for the persecution of an individual because s/he used a VPN to circumnavigate a geo-block. However, "Although VPNs are legal, what someone uses them for could lead them to illegal activities and jail time" (source). The likelihood of this happening is probably extremely low, but still... something to be aware of.
   • It is against the NBA League Pass Terms of Use to utilize a VPN to access geo-blocked content: "You may not attempt to circumvent technological measures employed to control access to, or the rights in, the Service, whether in conjunction with or through use of any device, software program, service or otherwise".
   • The NBA has a right to revoke your League Pass if they have evidence that you broke the Terms of Use: "upon your failure to comply with any of the terms or conditions in this Subscriber Agreement, We shall have the right to terminate your access to the Service and this Agreement immediately".
   • The NBA has been using VPN blockers (albeit with limited success) that will prevent you from using League Pass while you are connected to a VPN (source)

Edit: sentence structure and formatting
Edit 2: extra details re Bell Fibe TV (see in-text)
Edit 3: clarified details re League Pass in Canada (see in-text)
Edit 4: more details re Bell Fibe Alt TV (see in-text)

This won't include everything you can do, Some stuff I just don't think is worth it. I also won't include stuff that I personally haven't done or stuff I have had problems with getting the money. This will be pretty long but if you are new to this it is a pretty simple way to earn some cash
We are basically building up a pot of cash to matched bet
So if I have £0 this is what I would do to get to £1000
Make a new email so you are not spammed with crap, There will be a lot of offers/Cashback i have missed I would advise that when you sign up to these sites, etc and you get the hang of things you check for yourself to see what else they offer as there is a lot to do.
Best Offer - Xendpay £10 Bonus| Non-Ref (No Bonus) - See near bottom of post for details
Best GPT Site -GG2U ($1 Bonus ) |Non-Ref (No Bonus)
Matched Betting - OddsMonkey (£1 Two Weeks Premium | Non-Ref
I have also not put in any games that you can do as normally the payout for these change all the time but I would recommend checking what pays the most for them and then google a guide etc to see how long it would take as some can pay good, Normally on these games it speeds it uploads if you buy a pack on the game but if you are going to do this make sure you will still profit from the offer and you buy a pack which will speed it up instantly
I done a game before that paid £30, bought a £5 pack and it was done instantly tho that offer is not on these GPT Sites anymore
If you are going to lie when doing surveys etc make sure you remember what profile you are making etc and use it across all the sites that way its easier but I would recommend just being honest
Start by signing up to these sites
Neevo

• Sign up and create your account, Make sure emails are not going to spam and log in every few days to see if you have tasks

Clickworker| non-ref

• Create your profile, Once you do this click assessments and take the UHRS Test... Make sure you read everything start the quiz and pass it (It's not that hard ) You can also do some of the surveys and task on the normal page to earn some extra money

Appen | non-ref

• Different to the above sites, It's more like a part-time job/Full-time job but as you agree to work a minimum of 10 hours per week when you get accepted to a project - Normal Jobs pay $14 per hour but you can get jobs paying $25 per hour ( I never had these )
• I would only sign up here if you are looking for more long term online work/part-time, Currently, some of the projects are a little dead but well still worth applying here

Prolific.co

• Create your account and make sure it is completed to 100%, I recommend keeping a tab of the Study page open so you can grab them right away

I would sign up to the sites above as it can take a few days (weeks for to appen) to get anything through
Then do the following ( Starting with £0)
0-£50
Curve £5 Bonus | Non-Ref ( No Bonus )
Use My Code - DOXPRY3D
I don't think you get a bonus with no code, This is a mobile app so search for it in-app store
Sign up, Verify your account and order your card, To get the bonus you need to make a payment with the card, You are going to use this when you do your first gambling offer so that way you are maximizing your profits
Qmee (50p Bonus) | Non-ref ( No Bonus )

• Sign up through my link and you will get 50p bonus for doing a survey, You can then instantly cash out the 50p
• Do a survey till you reach £2 in your account and cashout ( I personally advise you don't use this site other than for this bonus unless the surveys are offering a decent amount )

Now you have £2, Do the following offers - I'm not allowed to post my link or the post will be taken down
First, do this offer - https://www.reddit.com/beermoneyuk/comments/gbh0te/freetrade_megathread_free_mystery_share_worth/
Then do this offers - https://www.reddit.com/beermoneyuk/comments/fqjeal/trading212_megathread_free_share_worth_up_to_100/
You need to sign up through someone's link, Create and verify your account and deposit £1, This will then get you a free random share between £3-£80, then free trade is £3-£200
Id appreciate it If you used my Trading212 Link, Its in that thread :)
Now it takes time to get your money from these, Trading212 is 30 days and free trade is 7 days but you can see what shares you got and their value
------
Now this is a very easy one to do but I'm, not 100% sure what you will get from it so I have no included this amount
Sign up to Coinbase Earn
Link - https://www.reddit.com/beermoneyuk/comments/jce62t/coinbase_megathread_post_all_referral_links_here/
I would really appreciate it if you signed up through my commented link on the post. This is a great offer to start, I helped someone do this recently and they got around £26 fees and withdraw tho you could get accepted into more or get a little less, All you need is ID to verify your account then click on Coinbase Earn at the top and try to do each lesson, The answers are very easy to get or you could just google them
Then do the Swagbucks bonus
Swagbucks ( Around £4 Bonus ) | non-ref ( No Bonus )
To get around £4 Bonus we need to earn 300SB within 30 days,
Do these two offers, Click on Discover then the following offer walls
AyeT- CyberGhost VPN Free Trial - 54SB
Adgem - Norton VPN Free Trial - 70SB
Also, install the Swagbutton, We both get a 100SB bonus, Go to and the Swagbucks home page, Left side of the page under "To-Do List " Click daily activity and it will take you to the install
Now do surveys till you get to the 300SB Limit or you can click into discover and do the little offers like above, So you can speed it up normally these little offers pay the same or there is very little difference from Swagbucks to other sites
-
GG2U ($1 BONUS)| non-ref ( No Bonus)

• Sign up and fill out your profile, Now click on Surveys and do either the $1 Yoursurveys or $1.25 Speak up Surveys

Prolific.co

• Create your account and make sure it is completed to 100%, I recommend keeping a tab of the Study page open so you can grab them right away

Populus Live

• These pay monthly but now they pay by bank transfer, Can get high paying surveys from these guys but you need to hit £50 to get a payout

-------
OhMyDosh £1 Bonus| Non-Ref (No Bonus)
Sign up here. Click on Surveys on the left-hand side and sign up through here to Panelbase, They pay £0.80 for this as signing up normally you get £0
Timebucks(I think $1 bonus) | Non-Ref ( No Bonus )

• The higher-paying surveys on here are under RevenueWall and Flapbucks
• Most I've had on Flapbucks was a £6 one and Revenuewall was £4 ( Don't do any under $1)

Keep open your Prolific tab and keep going at the GG2U $1/$1.25 Surveys, If you start running into being kicked out of them, I would move to Timebucks and give them a try on there, They pay less but me personally I have had more luck on there
PopulusLive will email you surveys and so should panel base but you could sign in and check what you have
After building up survey money ( £50 ), Do the following offers... In between doing these offers, you should still be doing surveys, or if you have a task on neevo/clickworkers even better.
(£50-£150)
MrQ| non-ref ( No free spins could be wrong tho )

• Deposit £10 also verify your number, You will get 10/20 free spins, Once you have used these go to Bingo and then "Free For All" This will give you 24 hours of free bingo. Try and make sure you play every free ticket to get the most money, It's every 2 hours from 9 am - 10 pm. Plays for an hour then 2-hour break
• Once you have played all your free bingo, Withdraw your £10 deposit and all your winnings from the spins and bingo

Now go back to GG2U ($1 BONUS)| non-ref ( No Bonus)
Click into "Offertoro"
The offer you are looking for is "Gala Bingo " and it will pay 3050.00 cent ( Around £24.50)
You need to sign up and deposit £5 on Gala Bingo and just wager the £5, So just buy £5 of bingo tickets... If you win any money great but I would just count this as a £5 loss to gain the £24.50 on GG27
Swagbucks ( Around £4 Bonus ) | non-ref ( No Bonus )
Click into "Discover" on the left-hand side of the homepage, Then click into featured offers and do the
Lottoland - 1300SB - Click the offer and it will take you to the sign-up and will cost £1 ( Make sure auto-renewal isn't on )
Quidco - REF ( £5 Bonus ) | NON-REF ( NO BONUS )
You get the £5 bonus once you reach the £5 cashback

• Once you have signed up search " MyHeritage" and take the £6.50 cashback for taking the free trial... Remember to cancel so you don't get charged.

TopCashBack - REF (£5 BONUS ) | NON-REF( No Bonus)
You get the £5 Bonus once you reach £10 confirmed cashback

• SearchLoto - £0.82 - Create your account, Make 25 Searched, and use Free Ticket.
• Experian - £3 - Sign up for a new account
• Graze - £2.47, Order your first box then cancel when it arrives
• Totally Money - £2.10 - Make an account and get a free credit report
• Tastecard - £3.30 - Free 2 Months trial

Now go back to
OhMyDosh £1 Bonus| Non-Ref (No Bonus)
Now do the following offers

• Gambing> Then William Hill Casino (£40 cashback)
• Click on the offer and make your account and deposit £10, Pick a game you want to play and either just do 20 auto-spins at 50p or do what you want just make sure you wager the full £10, So put it on auto spin so that when the auto spins end you have wagered £10

--
(£150-£300
Xendpay (£10 Bonus | non-ref( No bonus )
You are going to use £101 to do this offer, Sign up through my link and verify your account. Now you want to make a £101 transfer to yourself (Your other bank account) You will do pounds to euro, It will ask for a fee, Click on it and enter 0.00... Now input your other bank details, Then your card or you can make a bank transfer to them, Once you've done this it will unlock £10 for you, Repeat the above but this time do £10.01 and it will only cost you 0.01 ( Money should hit your other account in 2-4 days)
I would still be doing surveys but what I would do also is go through the Survey sites/Cashback sites and check all the offers they have even the little ones that you might only make £1 as you can normally do these really fast and I would just keep doing this stuff till I hit £300
£300+
Start Match Betting
I would start by using a service like
Oddmonkey Ref- Non-Ref
You will get 2 weeks premium for £1
Follow everything they tell you and you can't go wrong, If you have never had a gambling account before there is really good money to be made right away as you can do every offer but what you want to do is, For example, they tell you to make a Betfair account ( they will ) Check the Survey sites or Cashback sites and see which one will pay you the most for making a Betfair account (Sportsbook or Exchange )
If they are offering the Betfair Poker offer on cashback take that as its normally more profit than the other two if not just take one of the sportsbook or exchange ones
in between doing match betting, I would still be doing the surveys, etc nothing changes, As you could run out of money doing the matched betting, and doing the surveys is a great way to keep yourself generating the cash
--
Now there is a lot of offers I didn't post, So once you have made enough money you were happy with I would then come back on this subreddit and check which offers are worthwhile doing. Don't do the dumb ones where your money is tied up for 6 months and you get £10 back Because the way the world is right now no one knows if these companies will last and it's not a very good return on your money, Normally crypto offers are good for easy money but NEVER sign up to some dodgy site even if the reward looks good it just isn't worth the hassle

DKNG has seen huge gains this week, mostly focused on Tuesday and today, Thursday. Both days saw intraday spikes on sports-world news: on Tuesday afternoon a presser with Gary Bettman was announced and on Thursday it was announced that the Premier League would return in June. Oddly, the stock did not move back down at all after Bettman’s announcement turned out to just be an expanded playoff format, and nothing about a return to the ice. The Premier League news didn’t seem to have much impact on other sports betting stocks either.
Both of these events point towards something that seems obviously clear: DraftKings’ stock is hugely overpriced, but seems to keep being driven up just by trading. I think there are cases to be made for short term bull or bear, and for long term bear. I’m already in on the long term bear case with Nov ‘20, Dec ‘20 and Jan ‘21 Puts that have all taken a beating, but debating what the profitable short term play is.
For some context, I used to trade bonds on one of the biggest desks in NY, but moved to be closer to family a while ago and run my own business. My state is not supported by DraftKings, so keep in mind when reading that I am a bit salty towards the company and their ability to sniff out VPNs. Been a long time lurker here, but this is my first post.
The company’s Q1 earnings was pretty enlightening and quite the spin job. I was shocked to see the stock rise that day after what I read to be a pretty poor outcome. Growth in marketing expenses can be written off as entering new states, but seeing no growth in net revenue despite 30% growth in gross revenue means that the company has a growth problem, in other words almost all the revenue growth was driven by giving away free bets and reducing vig. Let’s look further at revenue growth though.
I found it very interesting that the company led with “30% revenue growth” when, in fact, that was only at Old DraftKings, which makes up about 75% of New DraftKings revenue. SBTech makes up the rest and grew at only 3%, giving the public company a 23% growth rate for the quarter, not 30% - spin job.
The company also gave us an interesting insight into coronavirus’ impact on their business, maybe unintentionally. At Old DraftKings, they noted 60% growth through March 10th. If we assume each day through the quarter is equal, that means the last 21 days of the quarter would have been down 70% vs Q1 ‘19, that’s big. However, we know not all days are created equal in the world of sports, and Q1 included 5 NFL playoff days and the Super Bowl. If we assume NFL betting days are 3x a normal day and the Super Bowl is 3x a normal NFL day, you can see your way to revenue post-March 10th being down 95%. A similar look at SBTech’s drop from +19% to only +3% means revenue post-coronavirus is down at least by half.
Another interesting lens to use in looking at the company is how they pitched themselves when the merger was announced five months ago in December. On slide 22 they compare their valuation to a variety of comps, trying to show that the valuation is fair, probably trying to alleviate the fact that the valuation for DraftKings was about 4x what Paddy Power paid for FanDuel 18 months earlier. I’m going to ignore the “EV / 2021E Revenue – Growth Adjusted” multiple that they highlight, because adjusting a forward looking multiple based on your own forward looking growth projections is absolute garbage, and instead look at EV / TTM 3/31 Revenue for those same comps.
At $39 per share, DraftKings has a market cap a bit over $15 billion on TTM revenue of $451 million, giving them a revenue multiple of 33.7x. For those of you that haven’t been around the block a few times, that is outrageously high. The “High Growth Consumer Internet” category that they selected is at 8.1x and “EU Sportsbook Operators” at 3.6x. Their best comp is probably Flutter, which is Paddy Power + Fanduel + Stars, trades at 7.8x. DraftKings deserves a higher multiple than Flutter given that they are pure-play USA vs Flutter which has a lot of retail european revenue that isn’t high growth, but the two companies currently have the same market cap, despite FanDuel being a direct comp to DraftKings with more market share in the fast growing business segments. Even if you said DraftKings should trade at a 50% premium to Flutter, which is being very generous, that implies a share price of only $13.50.
I know what you’re going to say: “this is all about more states allowing sports betting.” Fine, let’s look at what would need to happen at the state-level to get DraftKings’ current valuation to be reasonable. Going back to the December investor presentation, DraftKings estimates their sports book net revenue at $2.3 billion given 25% market share and 65% of the US having online betting, with a 22% allowance for promos from Gross to Net. That let’s us back into $4.5 billion of gross revenue at 100% of the population. Let’s then give them a 30% bump on that for iGaming. Using the company’s current $15 billion valuation and the same 50% premium to Flutter’s revenue multiple above (11.7x) that means they need $1.28 billion of revenue, or $831 million more than they currently have. $831 million more revenue needed means they need 14% more of the population to legalize in the very short term. Of the big five states, CA, TX, FL, NY and PA, none are going to add any population, with PA already online, NY choosing retail-only and the other three being no where close to legalization and widely considered by researchers and lobbyists to be years away. The remaining 46 states, including DC, average 1.3% of the population each, meaning you need a windfall of states to add 14% of the population.
Don’t get started on nationally legalized sports betting, no one is even pushing for that and it is never going to happen. The SCOTUS repeal of PASPA was as much about taking away the Federal Government’s ability to make national decisions like allowing or disallowing sports betting as it was about sports betting itself. Sports betting will roll out throughout the US, but it is going to be a state-by-state slog.
Another thing to consider is what the company might do with its highly valued stock. As we saw with Tesla a few months ago, a big run up in stock price is a great time to do some financial maneuvering. I think there are two very good options for management right now. The first is obvious: follow-on equity offering. In going public via a reverse merger with a SPAC, DraftKings barely tapped the big institutional investors. A follow-on would be a great way to load up the coffers further - anyone that watched TV in 2015 knows they love to spend money on ads - at a very attractive valuation for the company. The problem with this is that new shares coming in, or the follow-on pricing poorly, could be a big drag on the current share price.
Another option might be a little less obvious, but I think could make a lot of sense for the company: Buy William Hill. William Hill currently has a market cap of about $1.5 billion. They have a huge footprint in Europe, a market that DraftKings previously tried and (largely) failed to enter, are a big threat to DraftKings’ DTC approach in the US and have the tech that powers much of the land-based casinos’ sportsbook operations in the US. DraftKings could buy them with their cheap stock, or issue new equity to raise money for the acquisition. DraftKings would add a ton of revenue, could cut lots of duplicated costs, diversify across geographies and sports to temper their seasonality, and replace WillHill’s outdated tech with their much better apps. The big downside is that the CEOs of the two companies seem to really dislike each other.
One reason that I think the stock could be up so much since the “IPO” is that there are a very small number of liquid shares. Remember that this wasn’t an IPO at all, it was a reverse merger with a SPAC, meaning that a much higher percentage of outstanding shares are currently locked up than would be in a typical IPO. That constraint on supply with big retail demand could be a huge driver in the stock gain.
Circling back to be three cases for what I think could happen: - Short term bull: Sports come back, stock (irrationally) trades up on it - Short term bear: Correction to a more realistic valuation, bulls taking gains, any of NHL, NBA, MLB announce they won’t play again in 2020, financial maneuvering by the company - Long term bear: Correction to a more realistic valuation, bulls taking gains, any of NHL, NBA, MLB announce they won’t play again in 2020, financial maneuvering by the company, Q2 or Q3 earnings disappoint/are eye opening, any blip to the NFL cash cow, NBA or NHL ‘20-’21 season delays, lockup ending in October
Just giving my two cents on how I’m looking at this and trading it, and curious to hear any other thoughts or theories on real reasons why the stock is moving and where it is going.
Last thought: for those of you that like DraftKings at this price, you should LOVE Flutter at this price.

The site is mostly useful for beginners that may not be very tech savvy but are interested in getting started with more vigilant technology use. Those of you already experienced in this regard may not gain much from the site but I'd be willing to bet that almost everyone can discover some useful software that was previously unknown to them.
The way the site works is that there are several different categories in which the various software are all divided into. Categories like web browsers, email clients, file sharing, encryption, cloud storage etc. and then the author shares several software for each category and explains his review of their strengths and weaknesses as they relate to Opsec. They're are also tips regarding things to do after getting familiar with this stuff and various jumping off points, like different modifications to make firefox more secure the default version.
I hope no one gives me a hard time because this particular tip contains nothing illegal. It's still a tip and is very relevant to illegal activity. It's important to be aware of your Opsec if you're gonna be embarking down a path of criminal undertakings. Even being in subs like this without the proper protection could probably be used to help establish your clear premeditated criminal activity if you happen to get caught up in some shit down the road. If you ever were caught using stolen credit cards or something it would be really difficult to convince a judge or jury that you've never used a stolen CC before this one time and that you dont usually engage in criminal activity if the cops were to snatch your phone or laptop and use your browser to identify the considerable amount of time you've spent reading about how to commit crimes more effectively. Your online persona says a lot about you, and just making separate account names isnt really enough. Companies like Google or facebook pretty easily establish a fingerprint for users of its sites and easily link users main accounts with their throwaways and alts. It's not hard for them to do, and then this info can be sold to advertisers or passed on to government agencies or used against by the judicial system if you're ever prosecuted for some shit.
I cant believe how many people think they just openly google shit like "tasteless and odorless poison" "legal poisons" "undetectable poison" roughly 30 times each just 2 weeks prior to their spouse mysteriously dying and that they'll somehow actually ge given the payout from that insurance policy they so desperately want now instead of later. Just dumb.
I really recommend checking out that site, and if you're really gonna do illegal shit, you need to get started with building an anonymous online persona from the ground up that is never used to do things that could link the account to your real life persona or to your main online persona. I dont mean just make a new account name. I mean create a new email, with nothing linking it to you, use that to make n4w account names, and create all these accounts on a brand new browser that you dont tend to use, while running a vpn or even better just route literally all your traffic through TOR, you can do this while using other browsers than tor, and your traffic will still be subject to onion routing. After doing all this, anytime you decide to visit this sub or google inappropriate shit, just open up a virtual environment or if that's too involved for you then you could at least create a sandboxed environment for your browser and only ever use your illegal persona when your protected by Onion Routing, or sandboxing, or VPN or something, and for the love of god, if you allow your history to stick around after each session of illegal research then you undermine everything. Dont let sites remember your username or email for this anonymous identity. Everytime you get online and intend to begin a session, it should be like the first time youv3 ever logged into to any of the sites you visit. Dont use your phone number to verify shit and dont use emails.other than your anonymous one or use a site that creates disposable emails if you ever need a back up one or some shit.
If you're not tech savvy an android phone isnt a bad start for doing a lot of this. Obviously a phone, especially one from such a big company is not the ideal tool for anonymity but I'm currently routing all my internet activity for any app on my phone through TOR, and it was as easy as pushing a button, which isnt the case for doing the same on a computer. I also would recommend getting linux. It's free and much better if your intentions are to digitally drop out of the system and avoid future tracking. If you don't want to fully abandon Windows then you can either Dualboot both OSs or just create a linux USB drive and plug that in anytime you wanna use linux. I'd prolly most recommend getting an abandoned free laptop from whorv4r will give you one and installing linux lite or.some other low resource heavy distro and I promise you'll feel like the machine runs like it's a brand new windows machine. The lagginess just instantly disappears, all the fluff in windows taxes old machines to the point of irrelevance due to not being able to even engage in basic web browsing due to the extreme lag. I actually just revived an old windows laptop of my sisters ny just putting a lightweight linux on there and before this fix I swear it took 15 min for everything to load once logging into the windows OS. It also took no exaggeration, about 5 minutes or more of loading to.open yahoo.com or something. You can save so many computers that people 5think are beyond fixing.
Jesus this turned into a novel. I'm sorry, it's the blow talking I swear.