Quote:Original post by wtl0715

As I mentioned before, I'm in the brainstorming phase right now, so I'm looking for any reason that this won't work.

As a more serious point: Why should it work?

There are plenty of card sites and card applications. They are the first thing that is shipped with every OS.

There are sites which organize tournaments for real money, where people earn their living. There are sites which host hundreds of thousands of games.

There are games which go well beyond the card games to cater to completely different demographic (the likes of Puzzle Pirates).

All of them have top notch graphics, professional maintainence staff, solid income, company running them, etc...

Forget the technical details - why would I want to visit your site?

PS: there's video games industry (often just 'games'), and there's gaming industry.

Those two are very important not to mix up. One is frags and annoying teenagers. The other is mafia, billions in bucks, and close clutches of government. And you're eyeing the later one.

Even if it may not seem like it's harmless, online games have come into legal issues for providing casino-like activities.

Well, did you have any more questions? You have responses to your original questions.

Telastyn,

I only know North Carolina law as I'm a police officer (living with an ALE agent who specializes in gambling) in NC, but I believe it closely resembles the new federal law as it pertains to gambling.

The important question is whether it falls under the legal definition of gambling. NC adopted the fed's definition of gambling. To paraphrase: in order for an activity to be considered gambling, three elements must exist. 1) consideration 2) chance 3) prize

"N.C.G.S. 14-292 - Except as provided in Chapter 18C of the General Statutes or in Part 2 of this Article, any person or organization that operates any game of chance or any person who plays at or bets on any game of chance at which any money, property or other thing of value is bet, whether the same be in stake or not, shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor."

The two types of games that are excluded from the definition of gambling are "not pay-for-play" games as well as "games that pay out in the form of free turns or games." Mine, obviously, would fall under "not pay-for-play."

The new federal law that deals with internet gambling is concerned almost exclusively with the funding of gaming accounts. To my knowledge, there were no changes made to the definition of gambling. If there are any differences between NC law and federal law that I'm not aware of, I'd appreciate the info.

-WTL

Quote:Original post by wtl0715

The two types of games that are excluded from the definition of gambling are "not pay-for-play" games as well as "games that pay out in the form of free turns or games." Mine, obviously, would fall under "not pay-for-play."

I'll give you a real example.

In a free-to-play game, operator wanted to have random drawing for their players (who had an account) for real prizes (copies of their game). This had to be changed into a competition (draw some fan art, submit that), since otherwise they'd be in conflict with certain gambling laws. In later case, it would be classified as competition. Part of the problem apparently involved the winners having their travel expenses covered to travel to the fan fest where the prizes were handed out.

So I'll definitely say it's a very tricky issue, especially since you will need to consider international laws.