Topic: Your all-new, full custom Bitcoin casino is here ;) - page 5. (Read 27356 times)

Hey Lemonginger, I knew your name sounded really familiar. I'm jstrike on the CM board... I've been writing about my project there since the get-go. And yeah, of course I want to open the books to any and all kinds of checking. And you're right, Kahnawake and Alderney don't do anything to verify the casinos. But with what I've built, literally everything is open. No secrets. And to me, writing the software was the fun part, that's why I did this...it's not just an odd project, it's something I've been working on for a few years and the whole point was really to come up with lots of new games and new ideas no one had tried before. Like the Mayan Gold multiplayer progressive slot, and the rolling WR for bonuses. I'm seriously into taking everything prescribed by the CM and putting it into action. And it's not just about saving money by not leasing software, I really think that my software's got some advantages over the "big boys" stuff, at least in terms of playability and new games.
My plan is to roll out a totally new game every month or so, once I spend a month or two making sure this is up and running smoothly. My heroes are Enzo and the 3dice guys... that's exactly how I think of this project, even if Enzo doesn't think too much of me. Maybe he will later?
Bitcoin, to tell you the truth, is more the vehicle right now because my interests (like, opening this thing before I grow a 40-foot beard) and the Bitcoin community's interests coincide, and I knew that the big guys were too scared of this market to lay anything on the line with BTC. There are reps right now from MG and Playtech, and a bunch of other providers & operators, who are watching this thread and my site and waiting to see what happens, because Bitcoin is a live wire. They'll come in and dominate the market, but that's ok, because either way I got here first, and I know there's always gonna be something new for me.
BTW, I didn't announce this on CM yet because, after I did that poll where no one knew what bitcoin was, I sort of thought I should wait until we had a second deposit method before I mentioned it over there. Not saying you shouldn't, as it's definitely up to the standards I think Bryan wants to see in anything new like this, and I'm proud of it, but I'm holding off for myself 'til we get past the first few days...

edit: Also I forgot to say, I'm listed as a rep on CM but I'm also going to apply us toward a baptism as soon as we have enough players and volume to make it make sense.

so you dont take BTC from US players either? =(

Hi ssaCEO:

Thanks for the quick answers!

I guess I am still concerned about whether or not you will allow a trusted third party to audit your wagering history. (ie; commit to bringing in an accounting firm or similar) but I applaud the transparency!

(Honestly, the CR location doesn't bother me. Eastern Europe would. No offense to Eastern Europeans but the casinos based there have been almost uniformly scams. And Kahnawake, Alderney and others haven't exactly been super player-friendly anyway so online gaming is always "player beware" As far as I am concerned)

I get that licensing gaming software is expensive, and I applaud you for wanting to be "lean and mean" and take a risk with bitcoin, but I hope you also see why when 90% of all online casinos run on a few software types, it is worrying to see someone re-inventing the wheel. (From your perspective, I get that it was an exceptional opportunity to dust off an older project and run with the BTC angle. It surprises me that no bigger players have jumped into offering bitcoin as an option yet).

Lastly, I would urge you to seek accreditation with CasinoMeister and dedicate at least a little time to being available on their forums. Many online gamblers use them as a trusted resource.

Best of luck with your venture! Always nice to see BTC projects that are more polished than a night or two of coding....

Yup 
Right now, there's a guaranteed $100 tournament if 3 players join, single table, every evening at 8pm GMT... but we're going to add more as soon as we have the volume, and I'd say if you think you've got an idea for a good time to run one and want to bring some players in, we'll make it rake-free the first couple weeks and get it going. We can run tournaments up to about 20 tables right now if you got enough players to make it fun

You have no-limit holdem tournaments, freerolls and GTD's?   NICE.

Success, thanks.

You can play for playcash, it's just that no one's playing yet. Give it a couple days
We have Holdem, 7 card stud, mississippi and omaha, in NL, PL and Limit varieties (no NL for stud and no Limit games for Mississippi). The stakes go from $0.25/$0.50 up to $250/$500, and the rake structure is listed here:

https://strikesapphire.com/rakes.html

Let me know if you need more info!

Try again on skype man...we're online.

What formats of NL Texas Holdem are available?

I am unable to find this information without signing up. I have to add that I like sites that let me try the games before requiring me to register.

I tried the phone number, I tried Skype (can't find them), and now I'm *trying* Google Video Chat but can't seem to get it going.

How do you verify nation of residence? 

@GoWest -- Thanks, I take that as a compliment  

@BitVapes. We do plan on offering promotions based on both player points accrued (see the terms of service for details), and also ongoing for high-rolling players through the Silver and Gold-star preferred customer plans.

Aside from that, we've got a choice of referral programs that will give you 20% on your friends' deposits, or a larger first-time bonus, however those are subject to wagering requirements like most other bonuses.

We're a small house and offer relatively small stakes; we also offer a very personal atmosphere where you can get to know us and your fellow players. The vast majority of bonuses out there are absolute BS, designed to suck you in but never pay out. When we give you a bonus with 30x wagering requirements, you can withdraw your winnings instantly, and you can withdraw the first $1 of the bonus instantly if you've played $30. No other casino does that. More than that, our games are extremely, flawlessly fair, and we pride ourselves on it. We're the only casino that shows you the full shoe of every blackjack hand you played -- maybe the only casino that actually deals a whole show, because we're not sure how Microgaming does it, but they're clearly full of crap.

So the bottom line is that our bonuses are going to be small, and it'll be up to you whether you want to chase a bonus with a huge provider like MG, or just sit down and play a fair game (and maybe earn a few points on the side) with us.

most online casinos offer deposit bonuses, especially for new players.    The b&m casinos in Las Vegas give you free hotel rooms, free alcohol and free entertainment to entice customers to play and keep playing.   The online casinos give free chips as their version of player enticement.  Do you plan on offering some deposit bonuses?   I'd be interested in playing if so

Wow - what an uber-slick interface.  I guess that's the end of betco.in!!

Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03C4tnCFEMQ

I agree -- it's goin' on the top of the list.

One thing I would suggest is a small howto for getting bitcoins.

This site will appeal to gamblers far outside of the bitcoin community, and once they realize the ease with which they can transfer bitcoins in and out of the site they will be in gambler heaven.

Wouldn't take much, just a link to the buying bitcoin wiki, and maybe a quick outline to convince first timers how easy it is (1) Open a Dwolla account (2) Buy bitcoins from Tradehill (3) Instantly use here.

Hi lemonginger, let me answer your questions since you've hit a lot of interesting points and hopefully this will explain things further:

1) We are incorporated in Costa Rica as an information processing entity, granting us the legal right to run the casino under international law. We're discussing acquiring licensing in a larger jurisdiction, and we understand the reservations some players may have about CR-based casinos. For this reason, we are going to extreme lengths to show transparency, including daily publishing every complete card shoe, roulette spin and craps roll on the site. We expect players to scour these numbers, and we also expect players to win much more than they would in, say, Vegas, because our games are 100% fair.
2) We are reserving 200% of player funds on a rolling basis to cover daily payouts.
3) This software has been four years in the making. To (legitimately) lease a Microgaming license, for instance, comes to around $100k per month if you're doing any kind of serious business. The way this started was, about 3-4 years ago I came up with an idea to make a different kind of casino, all in-browser, all in Flash, and at that time the world was a different place. The nice thing about it is that we have a lot of really different, really original games that the big guys would be scared to death to actually put into practice ("when will we get our investment back?!" and that kind of thing). So we're a little startup with a lot more flexibility, and that's actually how we were able to move so quickly toward taking Bitcoin. Because no other casino will be accepting it for quite awhile, from what we've been able to ascertain.
4) The people involved in this project are mostly new to the industry, but we have some excellent advisors who have worked (and do work) on gambling sites you would have heard of. One of our managers was a producer on the top-selling videogame of all time; another has long-term experience in the London land-based casino market. That's all I can say to the question. I'm personally an open book, if you want to look me up, it's joshstrike.com, and you can always get a hold of me there.
5) You're not being harsh; these are great questions. If you'd like more explanation, just keep askin

Excellent, been looking for a good place to play roulette

Great looking site.  This is going to be a big business.

Another good-looking Bitcoin business, great!


First suggestion: you might want to check your grammar and wording properly for good credibility-
"We cannot accept real-money players at or resident in the United States, nor any form of payment which originate in or passes through US banking institutions and/or financial instruments."    -__-"

Also, this note should be above the registration in normal font, not a small footnote in the bottom.