maybe just unlucky..
Unfortunately so. It's not quite as rare as you would imagine. The independent probability of this occurring is precisely 1% -- but as you mentioned, you did play a few games before such event happened. In the FAQ and strategy guide, you'll find that referred to as the instant-crash. I've tried to give people some level of confidence that the game's are fair by sending the hashed outcome (and a hash of the seed used to make the output) -- which at least can demonstrate that the outcome of the game is 100% predetermined *before* anyone plays.
But I like to think, the best reason to think I'm not cheating -- is it's really not in my interest. I run this game completely transparently, using my real name (Eric Springer) and risk my reputation on it (which in turn, risks my ability to derive my livelihood living in a foreign country). And of course, if you run the maths on the house odds and statistics, I don't *need* to cheat -- the game always eventually works out in my favor. In fact, during the growth stage now -- I'd prefer to be making *nothing* to increase growth. (And in fact, feeding my profits into back into the game, via running some little promos)
Anyway, don't sweat it. The numbers and patterns can really get to your head. I had my own panic moment, when the house returns weren't matching what they should be. One of players was consistently beating the game -- the chance of them having such a return after so many games was less than 1 in a 1000. I was getting ready to halt game play while I did some thorough analysis -- but fortunately, I didn't. The guy kept playing, and sure enough the returns started trending back to the expected value.
Also, please ignore GoldGamingLTD -- he's a rather unsophisticated troll. If anyone has any legitimate concerns, please raise them!
I'll be sure to give this a try when I get my hands on a computer
