Curious has someone started an idea like this?

[killer2021]

so gambling is a pretty big business worldwide. Pulls in 2$ billion or so of revenue (online gambling that is). All of these existing sites take a commission for playing. The idea would be to set up a gambling site (probably poker, but could be other games as well) and instead of making money from commissions the site would charge 0% commissions on everything. Players could come to the site buy 100$ of chips, play some poker and then cash out for free. No withdrawal fees, no hidden fees - bottom line no fees to the players at all.

So how would the site make money? Simple, sponsorships, ads, and tournaments.

[KyleXY]

There are several problems surrounding this area. Online gambling have high regulations in the US and in several states, there are laws banning online gambling making it illegal. That's not to say those sites don't still exist but a lot of online advertising companies including Google and Yahoo have longed banned online gambling as a source of advertising allowed on their platforms as well. While the idea can work and I am in no way trying to deter you from pursuing it, there is a lot of things to look into regarding this particular space.

[killer2021]

There are several problems surrounding this area. Online gambling have high regulations in the US and in several states, there are laws banning online gambling making it illegal. That's not to say those sites don't still exist but a lot of online advertising companies including Google and Yahoo have longed banned online gambling as a source of advertising allowed on their platforms as well. While the idea can work and I am in no way trying to deter you from pursuing it, there is a lot of things to look into regarding this particular space.

True but you would just use all the methods that other online poker sites use like relocating to hong kong, singapore or other such areas where gambling is legal. Just because gambling is not legal in the US doesn't mean its banned worldwide. Americans aren't the only poker players out there! Also as far as advertising, i was not specifically referring to google adsense/yahoo. The site would use direct advertisers.

[KyleXY]

Correct. I wasn't restricting it to just US traffic. I was merely indicating some of the pitfalls that were apparent up front. With that, I wish you best of luck.

[Lemonade]

The biggest problem I see besides the start up costs, is that there are so many other gambling sites it would be hard to compete.

[lmadam]

To bring up KyleXY's concern on the regulations of these types of gambling sites, whats to say if you hosted your website out of the USA, I've come across a few gambling websites that opted into hosting there sites in Russia to try to overcome these regulations.

It is a pretty good idea not charging commission to users, and would probably in a marketing sense make your service very popular. Although there are just to many gambling sites on the web, its not really a great business to get into, and getting advertises to a new startup website is very hard. You would have to launch the site, bring in alot of traffic from some kind of marketing method, and then go directly to the advertisers themselfs. Marketing costs for gambling sites are one of the highest, so you would need alot of funding for startup.

Good luck!

[killer2021]

lol okay. Making any business successful is difficult. Clearly I like being an entrepreneur because it is challenging and rewarding. Nothing like growing a small business into a very profitable venture.

I care NOT how many competitors are in the market. The more competitors, the better. It means the market is healthy and there is lots of demand in the industry. It means more potential to profit. I am not scared of competition because I know my idea is far superior.

[JKansas]

I care NOT how many competitors are in the market. The more competitors, the better. It means the market is healthy and there is lots of demand in the industry. It means more potential to profit. I am not scared of competition because I know my idea is far superior.

Your passion is there, and that's great.

But don't fool yourself, passion and $20 might get you the domain purchased. Your logic is flawed. The internet has very low barrieres to entry and just because your idea is not being used now does not mean you are the first to think of it or that it is going to be a success.

I think it's doable, but I also think you should be a little more humble towards your competition and make sure not to downplay any obstacles.

[ONYArchitecture]

I agree with JKansas.
There are often many unseen obstacles in starting a business. Seeing a "need" and endeavoring to fill it is a great start. But you need more than that.
Keep researching and following leads!

[Remotestaff]

I would suggest try and strike up tie-ups with companies who manufacture gadgets or tech products. You can work out an advertising and product placement deal where you would get paid X amount for a certain advertising/product placement package. You can indicate that you will be giving away these products as prizes to people who register, create an account, play online and win any of the matches.

You can set-up the registration system of the site in a way that registration/creation of accounts would require purchase of prepaid cards, etc.

Position your gambling site in a way that site visitors who register/create accounts and play online get the chance to win any of the above mentioned gadgets and tech products.

The possibilities are endless.

Good luck in your efforts on this.

[catw]

Without US customers you're loosing a pretty big market. And you would have to host outside of the US. It sounds good in theory, but you have some pretty big competitions. You'd have to invest a lot of money in marketing

[wiggy21]

Im sure there will be a site out there doing this, but would give you a marketing edge.