htrp parent
If the offer isn't real, be prepared for the company to tell you to take the other offer if you want the money (or potentially just pull the offer on you).
However, if you have two offers for $X, if you tell at one company that the other offer is for $1.25X, and they tell you to take the other offer... you still have that option, and you haven't lost anything (you have to reject one of those offers anyway).
That's the gamble, correct.
If you're slaving in interviews and only have one offer, I can see why the offer is compelling. In this current market, I totally get it. But just a couple short years ago, the parent poster's approach was probably sound.