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Ask HN: Would you pay to play?

2 points by x0ner ↗ HN
I am trying to figure out a pricing model for my application and I am left stuck wondering if I am doomed for failure because I force people to pay (at least $1) to play. The incentive is that you could win $100, so to me it kind of makes sense, but I know there are some people who still will find a reason to stop from throwing a buck up.

I was thinking I could potentially do a free system that allowed you to play and if you won, you would get N credits to use towards a paid puzzle (with a cash prize). It sounds like that may be better, but complicates my design.

So the quick question is this - Would you pay $1 for the chance to win $100 or would you put the work in to get free credits to potentially win $100?

7 comments

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trotsky
From your description it sounds like you'd be considered an online gambling operator by the SAFE Port Act in the US.
mechanical_fish
Yeah, the good news is that it's been proven time and again that humans will bet $1 if they've got good odds of winning $100. The bad news is that you're running a casino, so be sure you talk to a lawyer.
x0ner
Someone had mentioned this when I pitched the idea. Couldn't the fees to play be considered a service? You are not betting, but instead solving a problem.
trotsky
I'm not an expert but I think they already have that loophole covered, hence why promotions with prizes are always "no purchase necessary".
mryan
You really need to seek some professional legal advice on this - you are thinking of setting up a gambling website, and will need to be registered with and regulated by the relevant authority.

If you are pitching this as a "service", I believe you will need to offer free play. An example from the UK: Let's say a particular chocolate bar brand is running a competition where you can win a prize by finding a special code inside the chocolate wrapper. They are legally required to offer free entry for this to be classified as a competition (so you can write to them and ask for a free entry form - they have to comply).

If you can only enter the "competition" by paying, it is considered gambling and regulated accordingly.

PilotPirx
I'm not a gambling person. In such cases there is one thing I know for sure: You won't throw away your personal money, so for every $ I win you will need to earn one $ (at least).

Another problem: How do I know, that your program is anything like playing fair? You could set up chances in program from anything like 1/100, 1/100,000 or no win at all. How do you want to built up a really great reputation for your customers to trust you on this?

The puzzle would even complicate matters. It would need to generate a new problem for every customer, otherwise you'll soon find the solution on the web and everybody will win. Or people will write bots to cheat about it.

x0ner
You have pointed out a few things I have been working with already. The first one I have covered, but that goes a lot more into the design.

To your second point, I am not sure. I obviously am not in the business to cheat people of their money, but I knew that could be a barrier initially. Any suggestions on building that trust? I believe I could be transparent with how the game is built without opening methods to cheat, but I would need to be sure and even then I think some would be skeptical.

The game itself is a shared real-time experience, so this would not be an issue.