

Game Wagering with Bitcoin and USD - icanberk
https://koalah.co/holiday

======
Carrok
They want me to sign in with FB or Google, tying my BTC activity with my real
identity. This is assuming they actually do support BTC, I couldn't find
anything about BTC support on their website.

Further they require a 90 day waiting period, while they verify there was no
fraud, before you can receive any money. They expect to garner enough trust to
hold your money for 3 months, but they don't even have an 'About Us' or
'Contact Us' page anywhere.

Further the site seems to be generally incomplete, and would make me think it
is therefore insecure. Clicking 'Terms and Agreements' in the footer takes you
to a page the header of which contains a 'Logout' link, despite not being
logged in.

~~~
shr42
Hey, our intention is not to reveal your BTC activity with your real identiy.
The BTC is simply used to deposit and withdraw money as an alternative to the
man, aka PayPal. We're huge supporters of BTC and the Ethereum project and
tying in BTC was our way of opening it up to a community that does not look
fondly upon fiat currency. The 90 day waiting period is only for accounts that
are flagged by our security protocol. Rarely will we hold money for the full
90 days. Thank you for sharing this bug with us, we will be working through
this and adding in a standard login process in the next two days. If you have
any questions, please email me at sagar@koalah.co

~~~
RemoteWorker
Do you guys realize Bitcoin transactions are not reversible? Why not update
your "security protocol" and take advantage of this new technology? Btw
Ethereum is a scam. Why would you support that instead of say sidechains or
Counterparty, and take advantage of the already existing code, infrastructure,
adoption, and network effect in general?

~~~
aml183
Thanks for your concerns. We will actively check out all cryptos! It would be
ideal to leverage the technology that has been built through bitcoin and
something we will look towards.

~~~
RemoteWorker
Glad to hear that. Some additional info then: Counterparty published an
Ethereum version built on top of Counterparty. Ethereum responded by building
Counterparty on top of Ethereum. The obvious difference is that Counterparty
uses Bitcoin's blockchain and security, while Ethereum has nothing. To makes
things worse they use PoS which we know can't be made both secure and
decentralized at the same time. That's why all PoS coins are centralized
through checkpoints or whack-a-mole style security patching.

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cstrat
Why would they only allow facebook and g+ accounts to sign up? Maybe I am
missing a link somewhere that allows normal sign up process...

Personally I very rarely link services. I especially wouldn't feel comfortable
linking a gambling service to a social media service.

~~~
shr42
We have used facebook and g+ accounts to sign up to drive a social gaming
environment! I understand your concerns and we will be adding a normal sign up
process in these next two days. We are considered games of skill opposed to
gambling. Players are wagering on their own skill. To give a comparison: take
the NYC Marathon. A runner will pay money to run and if he wins he receives
prize money. He is placing a bet on himself.

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alequo
For folks who don't want to have their identity associated with their gaming,
I've created a Game of Thrones inspired bitcoin game:

[https://houseofchance.net](https://houseofchance.net)

The bitcointalk thread is here:

[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=890248.0](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=890248.0)

Would love to get feedback from the community here, especially those
interested in bitcoin or Game of Thrones

*edit: To create an account, you need to provide an email address, but you can make up a fake email address if you don't want to leak your identify.

~~~
mithras
This is just a satoshi dice clone with a game of thrones theme right? Or am I
missing something?

~~~
alequo
Thanks for the question. Actually it's not a dice game. It's a slot game with
a variable house edge that combines both luck and knowledge of Game of
Thrones. Satoshi dice has a house edge of 1.9% in favor of the house. House of
Chance has a variable house edge of up to 1% _in the player 's favor_
depending on how much they know about the books and TV show.

Here's an explanation of how knowledge factors into the odds:

[https://houseofchance.net/faq#a4](https://houseofchance.net/faq#a4)

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sysk
I say don't give too much thought to people complaining about the non-
anonymous login, these are not the users you should be marketing to and they
are not the users Bitcoin needs right now. Bitcoin is anonymous/pseudonymous
but it doesn't mean every service built on it has to be.

PS: I believe Paypal and Coinbase both forbid gambling websites in their ToS.
I suggest you have the code ready to switch to accepting BTC by yourself
because you will most likely get your accounts disabled.

~~~
shr42
I've seen Bitcoin go from its beginnings through the thick and the thin. And
they say that when there is blood in the water is when it's the best to get
involved if you believe in it! We 100% do. We are operating our platform under
skilled gaming which is legal in 37 states and the same protocol that other
skilled gaming companies follow. This is allowed by Paypal and Coinbase. If
you have any other questions, email me at sagar@koalah.co and thanks for the
support!

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bduerst
Curious why you chose this image for your background:

[http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb3/universomasseffectrol/e...](http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb3/universomasseffectrol/es/images/5/50/Wiki-
background)

[https://koalah.s3.amazonaws.com/static/img/desktop-
landing-b...](https://koalah.s3.amazonaws.com/static/img/desktop-landing-
background.png)

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RickS
Conceptually interesting, but I agree with other commenters that tying a
public login to an anonymous currency via an unvetted 3rd party that holds it
for 3 months sounds more like a bad joke than any kind of real service.

Huge signup friction, virtually no payoff.

Is this even within paypal's terms? I've seen them swing the hammer for less.

~~~
shr42
Hey Rick, Thanks for checking us out, and we added in the public login to
drive a social gaming environment. We will rarely hold money for as long as
three months, it is in case we have an account be of concern based on our
security protocol. We will be publishing this security protocol in a white
paper as well as adding in standard login. Skilled gaming is also allowed by
PayPal and Coinbase, while gambling is not. Feel free to email me at
sagar@koalah.co if you have any questions.

~~~
mw44118
This link suggests paypal only allows skill games for approved merchants:

[https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/helpcenter/helphub/article...](https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/helpcenter/helphub/article/?solutionId=FAQ915&topicID=&m=ARA)

~~~
aml183
We went through the Paypal Approval process and were approved.

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Navarr
Your UX might need a little work if a user can't figure out how to play
freaking snake

~~~
shr42
That snake game is our own little flare! You can't simply click in the
direction but need to use the quadrant system. We will update our instructions
to make that clearer.

~~~
fru2013
I found the snake game pretty much unplayable with the mouse/touchpad. I'd
strongly recommend adding keyboard support.

~~~
aml183
Thanks for checking us out. We will be updating our site in near future to
include more games including keyboard supported games.

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alsmaki8
Well I got locked in flappy bird and then I got this message "Your account has
been flagged as having experienced a security breach. " I made like +30
points... Please take a look if is all right. Maybe I won too much? (1.8$)

~~~
aml183
Shoot me an email at ari@koalah.co. I'll check it out

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joosters
The FAQ tells me to visit the 'games' page to see the list of games. So where
is this page? I can't see any links on the site. Have I really got to sign in
before I can see anything useful about what is on offer?

~~~
aml183
We will be adding more games soon. There are only three games currently on the
platform: Snake, Asteroids, Flappy Koalah. We required sign-in to encourage a
more social experience. We shall be updating soon to allow people to check out
the site without signing in.

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jordigh
Dammit, I accidentally flagged this, and then it seemed to drop off the front
page.

Is that how this works? It seems to be unflagged now, but still off the front
page.

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ttty
Can you explain how to actually win? I've done more than 40 points in snake an
lost. I How much points do I need to win?

~~~
shr42
That is where the chance comes in! You play the person who plays concurrently
before or after. Sometimes it only takes 2 points, sometime it takes 85
points. All depends on the luck of the draw. Good luck playing!

~~~
ttty
But is saying "waiting" and no money are in. Now I can't play because I have
no usable money to play, they are all pending... Also some of "waiting" just
disappeared WTF! You should keep all the history to check. I think this
happened because you only show the last 5 in history...

Also now is boring... I don't even know if I lost or won..

~~~
aml183
We are working on getting more players. Sorry about this.

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gargarplex
Is this legal?

~~~
lfmunoz4
No. I'm pretty sure that it against the law to accept bets online.

~~~
aml183
Yes, this is legal. We fall under games of skill opposed to games of chance.
More info on why this is legal: blog.koalah.co/post/86647837513/what-is-the-
cash-based-skilled-gaming-industry

