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For a couple of years I've been cooking a gambling API and while there is a huuuge market for that, execution is what separates wheat from chaff. Here are two k

For a couple of years I've been cooking a gambling API and while there is a huuuge market for that, execution is what separates wheat from chaff. Here are two key things I believe will make it a winner: 1. Make it easy for developers to integrate in their apps. 2. Make it easy for users to deposit/withdraw/bet money. So, if I am playing online poker on my iPad, I may call, raise or go all-in on very single hand. Can your API do that? What means all-in in that case? All I have in the bank? Allow me to move $100 from my account to any game I feel in the mood to play. Let me deplete that bag and go for more or just quit in the middle and get the rest back. Can your API do that? Btw, call it iChips and put it on the app store (there is already one app with that name, but fight for the name) and use colorful casino chips everywhere. Again, execution is king...

Domenic_S 14y ago
These are solved problems both in meatspace and online gambling. Your buy-in is separate from your wallet: > I may call, raise or go all-in on very single hand. Can your API do that? What means all-in in that case? All I have in the bank? When you "sit down" at the table, you specify how much you're buying in with, between $TABLE_MIN and the lesser of ($TABLE_MAX || $YOUR_WALLET). Your all-in bet is a bet of whatever you've got at the table (not in your wallet). That's a fundamental rule of poker games. > Allow me to move $100 from my account to any game I feel in the mood to play. Let me deplete that bag and go for more or just quit in the middle and get the rest back. Can your API do that? Again, that's a fundamental gaming paradigm that online gaming clients have done well forever. Making a gambling API is IMO a developer's dream because all the rules are very clearly delineated already, and have been mostly agreed upon by decades of IRL usage and regulation. In other words, the spec's been written, tried, iterated on, and verified. As far as specs go, gaming rules are a thing of beauty. These are the two things that will make a winning API: 1) Trust and integrity (including auditing). 2) Easy transactions. The big blocker here is client integrity. What if I wrote a slot machine program that took 1% of winning rolls and displayed a loser to the player and took the winnings for myself?
- davidtyleryork 14y ago
  Hey Domenic_S So you know, that example of poor client integrity is something that we 100% prohibit. We audit every game before it goes live for real money on our platform, and since we control the gambling transactions, we make sure players get correctly paid out. Also, we are audited by the UK Gambling Commission annually, so our gambling licenses are testament to our own integrity as a service (the UKGC does not take the license-holder commitment lightly!).

Domenic_S 14y ago

These are solved problems both in meatspace and online gambling. Your buy-in is separate from your wallet: > I may call, raise or go all-in on very single hand. Can your API do that? What means all-in in that case? All I have in the bank? When you "sit down" at the table, you specify how much you're buying in with, between $TABLE_MIN and the lesser of ($TABLE_MAX || $YOUR_WALLET). Your all-in bet is a bet of whatever you've got at the table (not in your wallet). That's a fundamental rule of poker games. > Allow me to move $100 from my account to any game I feel in the mood to play. Let me deplete that bag and go for more or just quit in the middle and get the rest back. Can your API do that? Again, that's a fundamental gaming paradigm that online gaming clients have done well forever. Making a gambling API is IMO a developer's dream because all the rules are very clearly delineated already, and have been mostly agreed upon by decades of IRL usage and regulation. In other words, the spec's been written, tried, iterated on, and verified. As far as specs go, gaming rules are a thing of beauty. These are the two things that will make a winning API: 1) Trust and integrity (including auditing). 2) Easy transactions. The big blocker here is client integrity. What if I wrote a slot machine program that took 1% of winning rolls and displayed a loser to the player and took the winnings for myself?

davidtyleryork 14y ago
Hey Domenic_S So you know, that example of poor client integrity is something that we 100% prohibit. We audit every game before it goes live for real money on our platform, and since we control the gambling transactions, we make sure players get correctly paid out. Also, we are audited by the UK Gambling Commission annually, so our gambling licenses are testament to our own integrity as a service (the UKGC does not take the license-holder commitment lightly!).