Bitcoin Lottery Project

[nico_w]

http://img7.imagebanana.com/img/91o6jhq3/logo_590_150.png

Hey Guys,

First, I'll tell a little bit about me.
My name is Nico, I am 17 years old, living in Germany and just discovered bitcoins a month ago.
I'm currently working for a game publisher as web developer and server technician, so I have much experience in developing websites.

I've planned a project called "btclotto" - a simple bitcoin lottery with weekly draws and cheap lots.
Hence I'm not sure about the price for the lots, I wanna ask you how much you would pay when 80-90% of the price will go straight into the jackpot.

Currently I'm thinking of 0.1btc per lot, but I let the community decide.

To be sure no one cheats on this game, the draw will be done with random numbers generated by the visitors of the page. Also, the numbers will be generated 1 week before the official draw, so you'll see a hash and later you can confirm it to see we weren't cheating on you.

Best regards,
Nico

[1715399034]

1715399034

[1715399034]

1715399034

[BitcoinPorn]

Rather than let the community decide, see what is on the market, go a step lower, advertise that fact, profit.

[nico_w]

I think they shouldn't decide about the final price, but that would give me some idea of what players would pay to a new lottery. I may change the price later if it's successful.

[kerogre256]

Just rune miner solo on CPU and you have lottery.

[talldude]

You'd have to make it so that there is a decent chance of getting a payout in the beginning, since volume is going to be low and no one wants to just give away money if it's like 1:10^7 odds of winning. Maybe ramp the difficulty with number of users (base it on previous round's buy-ins). Or do it such that if no one gets jackpot, you keep 50% of that round's proceeds in jackpot and divide the rest 50% to people who got some numbers correct. This will keep people motivated to play, and keep the jackpot growing.

[cothoms]

You are going to have to compete with those new pyramid (see: ponzi) schemes on this forum that are giving users double return for their money =P

[nico_w]

You'd have to make it so that there is a decent chance of getting a payout in the beginning, since volume is going to be low and no one wants to just give away money if it's like 1:10^7 odds of winning. Maybe ramp the difficulty with number of users (base it on previous round's buy-ins). Or do it such that if no one gets jackpot, you keep 50% of that round's proceeds in jackpot and divide the rest 50% to people who got some numbers correct. This will keep people motivated to play, and keep the jackpot growing.

I've already thought of this.

No one has correct numbers -> Jackpot stays the same
Some users have some correct numbers -> Users get some part of the jackpot ( $reward = (($jackpot/2)/$usercount_won/$possible_numcount)*$numbercount[userid] )
1 User have all correct numbers -> He gets the jackpot
More than 1 users have all correct numbers -> Everyone will get the same parts of the jackpot

Also, I will increase the difficulty with rising usercount (at first like only 4 or 5 numbers are drawn, later more)

You are going to have to compete with those new pyramid (see: ponzi) schemes on this forum that are giving users double return for their money =P

It's kinda new and my lottery won't be like that, it's like the real lotto. Although I need to find a way to compete against existing services/games

[btc7]

Really great idea  !
So, one little piece of advice:

 For my opinion, people here don't really like to wait to receive something as a prize and weekly draws may be look kinda boring... 

[earthmeLon]

Just rune miner solo on CPU and you have lottery.

True facts.

[nico_w]

Really great idea  !
So, one little piece of advice:

 For my opinion, people here don't really like to wait to receive something as a prize and weekly draws may be look kinda boring...  

I could also put the draws daily, but that wouldn't give big jackpots. :S

edit: thought about this, however I think this wouldn't be that bad, because:
1. the chances of winning for a single player are higher when they play often
2. the users don't have to wait a week for their bitcoins, so they play more -> 1.

[bitlotto]

the draw will be done with random numbers generated by the visitors of the page. Also, the numbers will be generated 1 week before the official draw, so you'll see a hash and later you can confirm it to see we weren't cheating on you.

The problem with that method is that whoever has the hash can cheat. That would mean you or anyone you share the numbers with. NEVER should the winning numbers come before the tickets are bought!

[nico_w]

the draw will be done with random numbers generated by the visitors of the page. Also, the numbers will be generated 1 week before the official draw, so you'll see a hash and later you can confirm it to see we weren't cheating on you.

The problem with that method is that whoever has the hash can cheat. That would mean you or anyone you share the numbers with. NEVER should the winning numbers come before the tickets are bought!

hm, you're right... I should just let the server generate the numbers on every draw automatically

[bitlotto]

The problem with that method is that whoever has the hash can cheat. That would mean you or anyone you share the numbers with. NEVER should the winning numbers come before the tickets are bought!
[/quote]
hm, you're right... I should just let the server generate the numbers on every draw automatically
[/quote]
I wouldn't. Letting the server make the numbers makes it impossible for all the player to know if you are cheating or not. There is no way to know if you pretend making the numbers and make one of your tickets win.

[deepceleron]

You have to trust the person running the lottery:

-If the numbers are generated before the lottery (give them out encrypted, and give the key after the round for proof), how do you know the numbers weren't given to a buddy to win,
-If the numbers are generated after the lottery, how do you know the person didn't make the winning numbers so his buddy could win,
-If you bet on something out of the lottery runner's control (like what will the last two digits of the hash of block 134000 be), how do you know the person running the lottery won't just take the money and run instead of paying?

Anecdote of fair warning:

A city boy moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the mule the next day.

The next day, the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry, but I have some bad news.  The donkey died."

"Well then, just give me my money back."

"Can't do that.  I went and spent it already."

"Okay then.  Just unload the donkey."

"What ya gonna do with him?"

"I'm going to raffle him off."

"You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"

"Sure I can.  Watch me.  I just won't tell anybody he's dead."

A month later the farmer met up with the city boy and asked, "Whatever happened with that dead donkey?"

"I raffled him off.  I sold 500 hundred tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $998. "

"Didn't anyone complain?"

"Just the guy who won.  So I gave him his two dollars back."

[nico_w]

The problem with that method is that whoever has the hash can cheat. That would mean you or anyone you share the numbers with. NEVER should the winning numbers come before the tickets are bought!

hm, you're right... I should just let the server generate the numbers on every draw automatically
[/quote]
I wouldn't. Letting the server make the numbers makes it impossible for all the player to know if you are cheating or not. There is no way to know if you pretend making the numbers and make one of your tickets win.
[/quote]

I'll think about the method of generating the numbers

You have to trust the person running the lottery:

-If the numbers are generated before the lottery (give them out encrypted, and give the key after the round for proof), how do you know the numbers weren't given to a buddy to win,
-If the numbers are generated after the lottery, how do you know the person didn't make the winning numbers so his buddy could win,
-If you bet on something out of the lottery runner's control (like what will the last two digits of the hash of block 134000 be), how do you know the person running the lottery won't just take the money and run instead of paying?

Anecdote of fair warning:

A city boy moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the mule the next day.

The next day, the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry, but I have some bad news.  The donkey died."

"Well then, just give me my money back."

"Can't do that.  I went and spent it already."

"Okay then.  Just unload the donkey."

"What ya gonna do with him?"

"I'm going to raffle him off."

"You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"

"Sure I can.  Watch me.  I just won't tell anybody he's dead."

A month later the farmer met up with the city boy and asked, "Whatever happened with that dead donkey?"

"I raffled him off.  I sold 500 hundred tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $998. "

"Didn't anyone complain?"

"Just the guy who won.  So I gave him his two dollars back."

I understand what you're meaning. I will just show everyone that they can trust me. I would never take away the money, because if I were a player in a lottery I wouldn't like that and so I don't do it, a very simple reason.
Some people may know me as moderator and level2 user in one of the world's biggest gamehacking communities (elitepvpers), others may know me as a web developer. However, these jobs need trustful people, and I've shown that I'm trustful.
I understand when you don't  trust me at first, I wouldn't do so too. But when you see it's running well, you can have your own thoughts of the thing and you may trust me or not. At least it's every user's own decision.

I will think about a safe method of generating the numbers. Maybe I'll let random.org do this job.