Show HN: SportsChimp: If Zynga and Bet365 had a love child.
sportschimp.com
sportschimp.com
Now, "I've done something similar and here is what I ran into" or "I'm an expert and here's what you're up against" - now that's constructive.
So maybe I'm just projecting, but I would find those comments annoying.
(to answer your second point, I've done a lot of work in the sports area, so use of league and team logos is something I'm fairly up on).
The NFL also do not grant license requests to use its logo to sportsbook; only certain business partners (and their subsidiaries) may use the NFL logo in association with a sportsbook offering.
You can argue if something should be legal or not and that's a fair debate, but some people are concerned if something is legal or not, and they have a right to ask that question.
Personally I wouldn't use the site because they're using the logos of well known sports organisations, and I presume they're doing this without their knowledge or approval. It's maybe not a big deal but it's enough for me not to trust them with my data.
The founders have an opportunity to clear up any confusion, and we get to see that others also had an intuition that something's not quite right.
1) The use of logos without permission. Some of these leagues do not allow the use of their logos in connection with betting. That alone suggests they did not put much research into the legal and business environment they are trying to play in.
2) The website. Are you really going to tell me that a startup which has managed to land licensing agreements with all of those leages can't do better than a website my mother could create in 10 minutes? The lack of effort in the website--the point of first impression of most of their customers--strongly suggests a lack of effort in other areas.
3) Show HN. A startup in this field, somehow snatching up licenses to some of the most popular, heavily betted leagues...and the first we've heard about it is on Show HN? No TechCrunch, no WSJ, no Gambling News, no nothing. No details on the team, on the investors, on anything.
Tomasien, you have a legitimate gripe. But the people behind this website have clearly not done their homework.
To use SportsChimp, you must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the United States. By using SportsChimp, you represent and warrant that you are least 18 years old and a resident of the United States.
Isn't this weird? Not only are they saying it's illegal to use this from outside the US, it is inside the US where they'll have the most trouble making this work. These terms were probably lifted from some app/service where they made sense.
I believe the goal of this app is Sportbook related - but with a twist: it's a game right now. But I see people being upgraded to a "game for fun" to as a "Look how much money you can make if this was real money." Like Zynga Poker - but the end goal isn't you buying more Zynga poker chips to play for fun, but rather bet real money on sports.
No idea who is behind this, but I wouldn't be surprised if a Sportsbook in Costa Rica, UK or Europe is bankrolling/investing in this. The Sportbook industry is declining each year as less and less people are gambling on sports as it seems the 20-30 year olds aren't as interested as the generations before them. This is a great way to create a new generation of sport gamblers.
My 2 cents.
I don't think its a coincidence that Kutcher is the "main user" in the demo either...
Very nice graphics but UX is terrible
My guess is that people may be able to transfer money into accounts, but if this app get shutdown, customers may lose some or all of their money.
We decided against risking it with logos because Apple could yank us at a moment's notice even if we made it into the Store. And considering that some of the best selling apps are developed by the Leagues, we imagine Apple would be pretty quick to act if the Leagues asked.
So instead, we're using pennants without logos. Not ideal, but safer.
The NFL and MLB have very litigious IP counsel, who are kept on retainer and paid very generous amounts of money solely to police for unlicensed uses of their trademarks. In all likelihood, they've already got a cease-and-desist for sportschimp working up right now.
Looks really interesting but will rely heavily on getting people to invite friends and be actively involved, not sure what's going to make it sticky...
Legality:
No buy-in using your credit card. No independent wagers on a specific match-up.
Shame I'll never use it, because I don't have Facebook.
There will be more and more of these games as companies who don't wish to get effectively blacklisted from publishing and marketing in the US once real money gambling apps become legal position themselves for market share of the faux betting space so then can switch it up when/if the legalities are changed.
Whether or not the gambling bit is legal would depend on where the company is based, but then again it's Zynga's love child, you wouldn't expect everything to be above board would you?
And it's possible this is not infringement. But it could still land them with C&D letters or answering a court filing.
The legality of gambling is dependent where their users are located. If it's illegal to gamble in Virginia, then users of the site in Virginia get into trouble for gambling or Virginia tries to get the site closed down (or maybe blocked by ISPs in VA.) But since they're using fake currency and not paying out in real USD, they'll probably be just fine.
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy/c-applies/c-applies-faq/c-a...