Looking for 100 Beta Testers to Try BitMillions.com - Get ฿ 1 to play for FREE!

[ShaTwo]

It's unreasonable to ask people to delete their entire browser cache whenever you update your site.  The cache is there to prevent me having to download the same pages over and over.

Is there no way you can get my browser to notice that you've changed the FAQ page without me deleting my whole cache?

I've viewer the site in a different browser, and the FAQ really is different there.  I'd like to be able to see the new FAQ in my regular browser without then having to re-download all the pages I usually have in my cache.

I agree... still a lot optimization to be done, template pre-compilation, etc... once all that is finished it will be pre-packaged and versioned, to avoid this kind of problems. We tried to launch the site as good as possible, and even when we knew of some of these problems, we decided not to delay the launch any longer (We delayed a couple times) and keep working in these important details along the way.

Anyways thanks a lot for all your input, is greatly appreciated!

[payb.tc]

the number picking is somewhat cumbersome as it is impossible to pick all 4 numbers when placing a single bet

i was thinking about this today and thought a possible solution would be to only let people sending 1+ btc choose 4 numbers (and win the biggest jackpot)

eg:

bet 1.wwxxyyzz   ...let's you choose 4 numbers
bet 0.01xxyyzz ...people betting less than 1 BTC can only pick 3 numbers and are therefore not eligible for the top prize

[dooglus]

bet 1.wwxxyyzz   ...let's you choose 4 numbers
bet 0.01xxyyzz ...people betting less than 1 BTC can only pick 3 numbers and are therefore not eligible for the top prize

That would really reduce the expected payout per bet for the people betting less than 1 BTC.  Not only can they not win the jackpot. but they also have greatly decreased odds of winning the match-3 pot.

On a different subject, if I buy multiple tickets in a single transaction but don't specify what numbers I want, do you make sure that no two of my tickets are exactly as same as each other?  I'm happy to let you pick my numbers, but I'd like you to filter out duplicates if possible.

[ShaTwo]

the number picking is somewhat cumbersome as it is impossible to pick all 4 numbers when placing a single bet

Yes, we know is not the most ideal way... but we thought it will be easier than having a huge form like other site have... also we wanted the number selection to be transparent, so there is no way operator can cheat on that.

i was thinking about this today and thought a possible solution would be to only let people sending 1+ btc choose 4 numbers (and win the biggest jackpot)

eg:

bet 1.wwxxyyzz   ...let's you choose 4 numbers
bet 0.01xxyyzz ...people betting less than 1 BTC can only pick 3 numbers and are therefore not eligible for the top prize

If you think about it is pretty similar of that we have right now... if you bet 0.01xxyyzz, you are already choosing 3 of the 4 numbers and only will will the Jackpot is the Jackpot includes "01" on it... which in theory should come only once every 100 Jackpots.

[ShaTwo]

On a different subject, if I buy multiple tickets in a single transaction but don't specify what numbers I want, do you make sure that no two of my tickets are exactly as same as each other?  I'm happy to let you pick my numbers, but I'd like you to filter out duplicates if possible.

That is the reason why we do a HMAC-SHA516( TX Index, TX Hash ) before converting the hash to decimal... by doing so, is almost imposible to get the same numbers on ticket bought in the same transaction.

Not sure if you seen it, but if you go to
https://bitmillions.com/tickets/c9601a559a74a294f1f1e50f2aad1ee340fa75026e5c4b9ec8388d1e88f2b9fa:0
And click on "Click to Verify Numbers" ( Barcode ) you will see how the numbers are generated.

[dooglus]

[...] the Jackpot includes "01" on it... which in theory should come only once every 100 Jackpots.

Once every 25 jackpots!

There are (100*99*98*97) / (1*2*3*4) = 3921225 different combinations of 4 numbers
There are (99*98*97) / (1*2*3) = 156849 different combinations which contain 01
3921225 / 156849 = 25

That is the reason why we do a HMAC-SHA516( TX Index, TX Hash ) before converting the hash to decimal... by doing so, is almost imposible to get the same numbers on ticket bought in the same transaction.

It's only as impossible for any two tickets to get the same numbers as it is to hit the jackpot.  But as the number of tickets goes up, the probability of a collision goes up exponentially.  It's known as the birthday problem.

And it's sha512, not sha516!

[ShaTwo]

Once every 25 jackpots!

And it's sha512, not sha516!

Misspell corrected, thanks. Working in solving the cache issue.

[cptmooseinc]

Here's an issue I am having with BitMillions...

I bet .5 BTC (and won more than I bet!, but that's not the issue), and it came from one of the "unseen" address in my wallet.dat file. So, even though it sent from my wallet, I don't know how to use the free plays. I earned 8 of them the site says, but there's no way of me sending in more BTC to play them from that exact wallet address I believe. Sure, I could probably go and dig around in the wallet via PyWallet I guess, maybe? But that seems such a waste of time. .10BTC to use free plays means the house is going to win more likely than not for just 8 free plays anyway.

Either way, I find it frustrating that potential free plays are there (and won't get used in my next bet) because they came from one of the addresses hidden within my wallet...

[dooglus]

I don't know how to use the free plays. I earned 8 of them the site says, but there's no way of me sending in more BTC to play them from that exact wallet address I believe.

You could use the 'raw transactions' commands to manually construct a transaction from the required address, but that's both tricky and error-prone.

You could make a new wallet and import the private key for the address you want to send from.

If only there was some way of controlling which coins you send...

Or you could send your whole balance to the address you want to send from in your current wallet.  Then your bet is bound to come from the right address.  But sending your whole balance is likely to cost a lot in transaction fees, if you have a lot of small coins.

[ShaTwo]

Here's an issue I am having with BitMillions...

I bet .5 BTC (and won more than I bet!, but that's not the issue), and it came from one of the "unseen" address in my wallet.dat file. So, even though it sent from my wallet, I don't know how to use the free plays. I earned 8 of them the site says, but there's no way of me sending in more BTC to play them from that exact wallet address I believe. Sure, I could probably go and dig around in the wallet via PyWallet I guess, maybe? But that seems such a waste of time. .10BTC to use free plays means the house is going to win more likely than not for just 8 free plays anyway.

Either way, I find it frustrating that potential free plays are there (and won't get used in my next bet) because they came from one of the addresses hidden within my wallet...

Your best option is to export the private key of that address from your Bitcoin-Qt and import it on Blockchain.info Wallet that allows you to do coin control on your send transactions.

Here is an Step-by-Step Guide of How to do it:

1. Launch your bitcoin client as usual and wait for it to load the blockchain and start up
2. Click on 'help' in the menu bar (top right)
3. Click on 'debug window'
4. Select the 'console' tab
5. Type: walletpassphrase "your walletpassphrase here" 60
6. Type: dumpprivkey [your public key here] ( The one you have the Free Plays ) <- this will return the private key, you can copy it now; ensure you clear your clipboard/history afterwards
7. Login to your Blockchain.info Wallet
8. Go to Import / Export
9. Enter your private key on "Import Private Key"

After doing this, go to Send Money / Custom, select the imported address and you will be able to redeem your Bonus Tickets.

This is a limitation on the Bitcoin-Qt Client, that doesn't give you the option of coin control.

[dooglus]

6. Type: dumpprivkey [your public key here] ( The one you have the Free Plays )

I think it only accepts bitcoin addresses, not public keys.

[Tachikoma]

Any chance you could increase the draws API to retrieve more then 1200 draws? Right now you get a 500 error saying that there is no index given to sort().

[ShaTwo]

Any chance you could increase the draws API to retrieve more then 1200 draws? Right now you get a 500 error saying that there is no index given to sort().

We don't have more than 1200 Draws our First Draw was in Block # 219,030

[Tachikoma]

That explains it! Thanks

[BitMillions]

wow I can't believe how late I am on BitMillions. 

bravo OP / amazing site.

I bought some tickets today of course.  I will be covering this site in my next Bitcoin Magazine gambling article.  Absolutely brilliant.  Tough fight between this and bitcoinvideopoker for best new pure btc gaming site recently. 

love seeing projects like this pop up - and also pretty awesome how you did all the work then just dropped it on the community almost perfect - really, really great job.

I will be firing.  This will create another good blockchain stress test similar to SatoshiDice - I think this will be that level of popular.

Thanks Micon!!! Looking forward to read your article!!

[MooC Tals]

I could be wrong here but if the numbers are 1 to 99 with 4 slots should it be

99x99x99x99 - odds of 96million to 1

correct me if I'm wrong.

[Morblias]

I could be wrong here but if the numbers are 1 to 99 with 4 slots should it be

99x99x99x99 - odds of 96million to 1

correct me if I'm wrong.

4 numbers
100 choices

x1 = 4/100 = 0.04 (Probability that one of the 4 picks will match your first number)
x2 = 3/99 = 0.0303 (Probability that one of the 3 remaining picks will match your second number)
x3 = 2/98 = 0.020408 (Probability that one of the 2 remaining picks will match your third number)
x4 = 1/97 = 0.010309 (Probability that one of the 1 remaining picks will match your fourth number)

x1 * x2 * x3 * x4 = 0.000000254987919264 (probability you will win)

1 / 0.000000254987919264 = 3921754

1 in 3921754 chances of winning

this is estimate due to rounding, so it is probably closer to what BitMillions posted

[frankenmint]

excuse me, I ended up buying .7 in tix not seeing the photo nor reading the text to pick my numbers, can i just have a random roll?  here is the link to the transaction on blockchain:  https://blockchain.info/tx/8436636fb5499845d4cb0a6c20f89cfa028595664d28c6ba92fa5b44bd244134