The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) told ZDNet Australia
The ACCC is putting its case together for the trial, which is scheduled for September 2.
The temporary injunctions it obtained in September last year against the promoters of the horse betting software program -- profusely referred to as Offtrack or Bankers' Choice -- remain in force. This injunction prevents them from representing the software in a way that the competition watchdog alleges is -misleading and deceptive".
The promoters, Gold Coast-based Solutions Software International, two related companies formerly known as Acepark and Offtrack Investments, and former company directors Robert James Price and William Greig Millar, allegedly targeted -vulnerable people" with claims the software could predict the outcomes of horse races, according to earlier ACCC statements.
Touted as an investment program, not a gambling system, punters were promised high returns by working part-time or from home. Many paid up to AU$12,500 for the software after being told existing users were making between AU$4,000 and AU$8,000 per month on a program that had a success strike rate of between 70 and 95 percent, the ACCC claimed at the time.
Discussion has been rife amongst ZDNet readers, with many disputing the integrity of the program and claiming to have been ripped off.
-I have had Offtrack for four years and yet to make one dollar," one company director from Auckland, New Zealand who calls himself a -broke investor", told ZDNet Australia
A retired couple from Melbourne, who refer to themselves as -two mugs", also call the software a rip-off. -We too bought Offtrack and had the same bad experiences with the program as others. We found it impossible to pin down the criteria for selecting the winning graph. In the end, we realised it was probably a rip-off. Goodbye, AU$10,000-plus bets."
Other ZDNet readers swear by the program and vilify the competence of those punters who have been unsuccessful.
"I have been using Bankers' Choice [the software] for some time now and have had success. If you are unable to operate the programme, start training. This program works. Stop blaming, Banker's Choice for your incompetence," said Geoff Wood, who describes himself as a -happy punter" from New Zealand.
Another ZDNet reader, Rosemary Hearle from Perth, is also an advocate of the software, claiming to have spent two hours a day for five months studying the information, teachings and workings of the program. -...working on a criteria with enormous self-discipline without even a bet, certainly helped me. I have never had a free lunch, and do not expect because I pay for a software program that it is a licence to make money...I am a very grateful participant," she said.
Another New Zealand-based user of the program, who purchased it back in February 1999, describes similar success. -For the first 18 months I broke even. Over the next year I realised that discipline is very, very important. I then did quite well and was making more per hour with Offtrack than I was at work...I do not want the ACCC to remove a financial cornerstone from my portfolio. Stopping the software updates would be as detrimental to my situation as purchasing and ineffectively using the software has been to others," he said.
The ACCC could not explain the recent wave of discussion over the controversial software, but said it gets about three calls a week from consumers on the matter and described it as -definitely" a hot topic.
The Commission is seeking permanent injunctions, refunds of the purchase price of the program to affected consumers, corrective advertising, and the implementation of trade practices compliance programs and costs.
Who cares, Price will go to jail and nobody will get a cent.