4 ms·

Show HN: My weekend app, iWagerr. Track and share casual bets with your friends

6 points by bvi 16y ago

bvi 16y ago
Hey guys, do let me know if my weekend project would be neat to use! I'm wondering (hoping!) if my app might be interesting to some people here (who are active on Twitter). What: iWagerr makes tracking and sharing casual bets with friends easy. Use iWagerr to challenge your friends on Twitter and keep track of your win-loss record. Why: My friends and I found it pretty frustrating that there was no easy way to track or share bets we have with one another (e.g. "I bet you that I can down 10 tacos in 20 minutes or I'll pay for dinner next time!" or "If Chelsea beat Manchester United, I'll eat my socks."). Link: http://www.iwagerr.com http://www.iwagerr.com - Would love to know your thoughts.
- mryan 16y ago
  Very nice idea. As btilly says, you will probably quickly fall afoul of various gambling laws, so that is something to investigate. Re. the site design: * personally, I find your main font off-putting and difficult to read * you should stop appending a full stop to the tweets on the home page - it looks odd when they end with punctuation (e.g. "Gentleman's Agreement?.")
  - bvi 16y ago
    * Font - really? I thought it gave a "fun" sort of image to the site. Which font are you referring to? I'm using 2 main fonts here. * I've removed the period at the end of the sentence as well, if the user's wager already has one. Thanks for pointing this out.
btilly 16y ago
I would check with a lawyer for legal issues. See http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Federal-Laws/ http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Federal-Laws/ for a list of articles on some of the gambling laws. In particular if you become popular, users will begin betting on sports, putting you squarely afoul of http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Federal-Laws/sports-protection.htm http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Federal-Laws/sports-protectio.... I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice, but there is a reason that the bazillion gambling websites out there are not US based.
- bvi 16y ago
  Thanks for the input. I'm positioning iWagerr as an app just to track casual wagers. I'm emphasizing "casual" because I'd like it to be the de-facto place to place non-financial bets (such as those in the examples I gave above). Think of it as a notepad-like web app where you just track challenges against friend and see who "wins" those wagers. This is in no way a gambling site, since I'm not offering odds on any wagers or have credits/money transacting through iWagerr.
  - btilly 16y ago
    I understand how you think it is OK. And it may actually be OK. However what matters is not what you or I think, it is what some judge might think about a site that makes it easier for people to gamble money against each other. And a lawyer can let you know whether there are any likely landmines there.
    - bvi 16y ago
      You're right. I'll just double check with a couple of lawyer friends.

6 points by bvi 16y ago

bvi 16y ago

Hey guys, do let me know if my weekend project would be neat to use! I'm wondering (hoping!) if my app might be interesting to some people here (who are active on Twitter). What: iWagerr makes tracking and sharing casual bets with friends easy. Use iWagerr to challenge your friends on Twitter and keep track of your win-loss record. Why: My friends and I found it pretty frustrating that there was no easy way to track or share bets we have with one another (e.g. "I bet you that I can down 10 tacos in 20 minutes or I'll pay for dinner next time!" or "If Chelsea beat Manchester United, I'll eat my socks."). Link: http://www.iwagerr.com http://www.iwagerr.com - Would love to know your thoughts.

mryan 16y ago
Very nice idea. As btilly says, you will probably quickly fall afoul of various gambling laws, so that is something to investigate. Re. the site design: * personally, I find your main font off-putting and difficult to read * you should stop appending a full stop to the tweets on the home page - it looks odd when they end with punctuation (e.g. "Gentleman's Agreement?.")
- bvi 16y ago
  * Font - really? I thought it gave a "fun" sort of image to the site. Which font are you referring to? I'm using 2 main fonts here. * I've removed the period at the end of the sentence as well, if the user's wager already has one. Thanks for pointing this out.

btilly 16y ago

I would check with a lawyer for legal issues. See http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Federal-Laws/ http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Federal-Laws/ for a list of articles on some of the gambling laws. In particular if you become popular, users will begin betting on sports, putting you squarely afoul of http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Federal-Laws/sports-protection.htm http://www.gambling-law-us.com/Federal-Laws/sports-protectio.... I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice, but there is a reason that the bazillion gambling websites out there are not US based.

bvi 16y ago
Thanks for the input. I'm positioning iWagerr as an app just to track casual wagers. I'm emphasizing "casual" because I'd like it to be the de-facto place to place non-financial bets (such as those in the examples I gave above). Think of it as a notepad-like web app where you just track challenges against friend and see who "wins" those wagers. This is in no way a gambling site, since I'm not offering odds on any wagers or have credits/money transacting through iWagerr.
- btilly 16y ago
  I understand how you think it is OK. And it may actually be OK. However what matters is not what you or I think, it is what some judge might think about a site that makes it easier for people to gamble money against each other. And a lawyer can let you know whether there are any likely landmines there.
  - bvi 16y ago
    You're right. I'll just double check with a couple of lawyer friends.