

 Ask HN: Should I build this? - dshipper
http://sportsparadi.se

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mmaunder
Since online gambling is illegal in the US, you may get push-back from
Facebook even though you seem to only be emulating gambling.

You're also using the word "Bet" which may cause companies like Facebook and
Google to censor you in areas like AdWords, Apps, etc.

If it was me and I wasn't based in the USA, I might create a standalone
gambling site. US companies can't compete with you right now. Mark
Shuttleworth figured out that US companies couldn't sell strong SSL certs to
companies outside the USA thanks to ITAR regulations. So he created Thawte in
South Africa and sold strong certs from there. Verisign bought the company for
around $700 million. He used that money to create Ubuntu.

Best of luck!!

~~~
dshipper
Thanks for the advice! Unfortunately I'm a student based in the US so I'm not
sure how feasible it is for me to move for this project :)

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fuzzmeister
Might want to check out StarStreet (<https://www.starstreet.com/>), which uses
real money. They frame it as a sports stock market, to avoid running afoul of
online gambling laws.

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dshipper
Intresting, thanks for the link!

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jjets718
Hey Dan! I think this is a really cool idea! I'm part of a team working on a
startup, and I would love to chat. Email the team at selfey.sw@gmail.com if
you're interested! Thanks!

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dshipper
Email sent :)

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erikig
Sounds interesting, how does it work?

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dshipper
So I'm thinking when you first sign up you get 1000 "ParadiseCoins" which you
can use to bet with your friends on Facebook. The more bets you win the more
coins you get and the more cool stuff you can buy for your character.

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robtoo
So people can sign up with dummy accounts, make terrible bets against their
main account, and collect the 1000 ParadiseCoins on their main account?

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dshipper
Well I was planning on making it a Facebook game. So conceivably you could
still make dummy accounts, but because it's social and your friends will see
who you're betting with I'm hoping that won't be too much a of a problem.

