My idea: pay a small amount (~ 2$) to enter prize draw and to win 50$ per week.

no much difference

 

My idea is to create a site that should be fun to play by itself - and then adding a bit of spice by letting players compete for a (possibly big) prize just by buying a small "ticket".

What I understand is that this could be considered gambling (and that would be a quite big PITA) - therefore the best thing would be to create a "premium membership" that for (for example) 2 bucks a months gives you access to "advanced features" AND to bigger prizes (hoping this last thing would be a strong incentive for users to become premium).

This is the idea - after reading all you comments. What do you think about it? Is this better - under a legal and "business" point of view?

Regards!

 

Sounds like a good idea.

 

Hey Picouli, check my sig and view my listing for help.

 

That seems to be the most similar concept that ran through my head as well. If the OP wanted to offer it to Canadian users, he would likely find that he'd need a lottery licence in most provinces. (50/50 draws at sporting events, Nevada tickets at the corner store or from charitable groups, etc. all require a lottery licence in Ontario) Quebec would probably be impossible (well, not impossible, just a tremendous pain in the ass) to offer the site to; as their regulations are incredible, such as posting security ($) with the government, etc. Which is why most contests and promotions, always come with the disclaimer "Void in Quebec" because it's such a pain for promotors to make their contests & sweepstakes valid under QC law.

 

Umm, yes it is considered gambling since you are paying $2 for nothing. The only way to get around that it isn't gambling would be to state there is a membership fee or as a minimum donation. The only problem is you would need some type of other content on your site, and with the donation, people won't donate $2 a month for no reason. Think of a website idea that you have enjoyment in, and make a website, have a free signup, but have a membership upgrade option too, than you can do this. Maybe with the upgrade you can have like newsletters, etc. Kind of like how PC game download sites work.

But watch out for the gambling aspect you schemed.

 

Mike S.
this is my idea right now: the game should be fun by itself to play - at least, I hope so... - and will have a few features available only to "premium users" (which will pay a small fee per month).

Now my problem is: if I offer a bigger prize to these players (say I give away 50$ to the winner of the "normal" chart and $500 to the winner of the premium one) - will this be considered gambling, or something I need a licence for?

Gee, it's really worse than what I thought... Wasn't Internet the (nowhere) land of freedom?!?

 

You are still having a raffle system on your website, but if you let the others play for free, the problem is you will need to earn $550 that you will need to make off of $2/premium member. You will essentially need 275 premium members just to break even. The best way I think you can do it is this way, see if you can find yourself a sponsor that you will provide a link to. Make it so visitors enter the raffle to try to win say a $25-50 prize that your sponsor will give you, you can than have premium members that get entered in the normal raffle, and the premium member raffle. Say they can sign up for a membership and earn 2 tickets a month, and they get a chance to win a smaller prize too.

It would be easiest to run this using forum software, and then just award them the prize yourself. Let premium members pay $10/year, and the only prize you would have to worry about is the monthly premium member prize. If you lose your sponsor, than you are done. You might want to call premium members donators though, so if you donate $10 you win an exclusive premium membership. Maybe make the forum revolved around gambling habits, strategies, etc.

Just an idea. Good luck.

 

There's a reason all contests in the US say "no purchase necessary"

If any type of payment is required to win money, it's gambling. Publisher's Clearing House was sued quite a bit for implying people who bought something were more likely to win.

The only way to have a chance of being legal is to give out non-cash prizes and call it a raffle.

 

So even if the "premium" fee gives you access to advanced features AND to bigger prizes this is gambling?

Tnx!