Even though our game is skill-based, there is an element of chance.  Hence, it will be deemed as gambling.  Coinbase will not help us because of this.

Building a hot wallet on our server seems like more work than using Blockchain.info's "receive payment API", isn't it?  We don't know how popular bitcoin will be with our users.  Therefore, it seems that it will be easier to use Blockchain.info first and if it gets traction, then we build the hot wallet.  Please do not hesitate to tell me otherwise as I welcome any additional input and appreciate your suggestion of the hot wallet.  That is good to know and hopefully, we'll get to the stage where we need it.  Thanks.

I already had searched and looked into this.  I should've posted what I had found, which was the above and the following:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1r329e/

The comment on reddit casted confusion onto what the real minimum was for Blockchain, hence I asked my question.  Then I thought about it and decided that our minimum should be 0.001 BTC anyways.

Thanks for your help!

bitpop:  Thanks for your input.

Your link explains how to use JSON-RPC PHP to call bitcoind.  I assume that bitcoind uses the "bitcoin API call list" (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Original_Bitcoin_client/API_calls_list).  Does this mean that you think this method is an easier way to accept bitcoin from users than to use Blockchain.info's "receive payment API"?

The benefits of Blockchain.info's "receive payment API" are that we only need to generate one address and can keep our private key offline.  Doesn't this "JSON-RPC PHP calling bitcoind" method imply that my bitcoin wallet will be running on my server?  If so, how do we keep our private keys off of our server?

I run MAMP (Mac Apache MySQL PHP) on my localhost to do development and testing.  I assume that I can run bitcoin in the background on my Mac and have it communicate with JSON-RPC PHP as per https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=21956.0 ?

The maximum amount that we will accept as deposit from an user is likely going to be 1 BTC and the minimum amount will be 0.001 BTC.  Is this still too small for Blockchain.info?

Thanks for your input Abdussamad.  Which open source php code did you link to?  Are you referring to the following link that you provided?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=404228.msg4379742#msg4379742

The above link shows PHP code for using Blockchain.info, which I already have and want to test.

Thanks for your input.  Unfortunately, we do not know Python.

Nevertheless, to start, we may not have that many customers.  Therefore, shouldn't we avoid the send programs?  Shouldn't we send manually whenever a user requests withdrawal?

Do you have any suggestions on how to prevent hacks to change the deposit address?

Thanks for your reply.  Let me reiterate what you wrote, so I understand you fully.

You gave a sending example, but you are recommending that I do not use it.  Instead, I should "manually fill and send" to my users.  Is that correct?

What is a "hot wallet"?

We are building an online game and planning to enable our players to play for bitcoins.  Therefore, we need to enable players to deposit and withdraw bitcoins.

Which way is the easiest to start accepting bitcoins from users?  Use the bitcoin API call list (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Original_Bitcoin_client/API_calls_list) or use Blockchain.info's "receive payment API" (http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive)?

On Blockchain.info's page for "receive payment API", it gives a PHP example:  https://github.com/blockchain/receive_payment_php_demo.  The example enables your website to prompt the user to send bitcoins to us, via Blockchain.info.  I like to test this out.  Which way is the best way to test it out?  Send real bitcoins or send testnet bitcoins?

If the best way to test is to use real bitcoins, I'm assuming that we should send one Satoshi (0.00000001 BTC) each time?  But how much transaction or network fee will I have to pay (since it is likely that I'll need to send BTC many times)?

If the best way to test is to use Testnet coins, then how does one use them?  I cannot find good information on how to use them to answer questions such as:  Can we use testnet coins to test out the bitcoin API call list or Blockchain.info's "receive payment API" and their PHP example?

We are building an online game and planning to enable our players to play for bitcoins.  Therefore, we need to enable players to deposit and withdraw bitcoins.

We need to post the following question, but it seems that we need to post in the newbie section first.

Which way is the easiest to start accepting bitcoins from users?  Use the bitcoin API call list (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Original_Bitcoin_client/API_calls_list) or use Blockchain.info's "receive payment API" (http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive)?

On Blockchain.info's page for "receive payment API", it gives a PHP example:  https://github.com/blockchain/receive_payment_php_demo.  The example enables your website to prompt the user to send bitcoins to us, via Blockchain.info.  I like to test this out.  Which way is the best way to test it out?  Send real bitcoins or send testnet bitcoins?  If the best way to test is to use real bitcoins, how much transaction or network fee will we have to pay?  Is it possible to use testnet bitcoins to test out Blockchain.info's PHP example?  How does one use testnet bitcoins?