Hello. I was following a thread regarding the issue of Law as it pertains to online contests. And where it concerns me, is in the topic of "charging a fee for a chance to win a prize" I mean, I get that it's illegal here in the U.S. to host a site like this, because in essence it gambling -- because it's a game of chance. But what if the contest involves skill, to the point where the game would be considered a game of skill? I've done some research regarding this question and I can't find anything that points to this as being illegal. Can anyone help me? Thank you in advance. hab
It's a good question. Your country specific laws will govern what you can and can't do, so if your web hosting company is in the US then you are right gambling is out. in the UK we have similar laws, but i believe that the answer to your question lies in the amount of skill required to obtain the answer. Let me explain. If you charge a fee, say 50p for someone to enter a prize draw in which they could win £1000 then the type of question you set is crucial. If you set a question like how many wheels does a car have, there is an extremely high chance of everyone entering getting the question right and as such, it is likely that your competition will be classed as gambling as it is more a game of chance than of skill. However if you asked a question like "Who invented rubber tyres and in what year?" then there is more skill required, as whilst someone could still look this up on the internet, it would take time and investigative know how.
Thanks lightlysalted. I understand where you're going with it. Do you think I should discuss exactly what my Prize-to-challenge difficulty ratio should be? What would be difficult here is not in the form of a question. More over, it's a level of hardness as it relates to solving puzzles (in a way) Any thoughts? hab One more thing though, Can you please direct me to legal reference that might support you notion? Thank you so much. hab