Opening a Poker Site

Hey Guys,

I'm looking into opening my own poker site/room possibly in the next year or two, I've already found alot of information on it, but I need much more, if anyone is knowledgeable on the subject or knows where to get more information, could you please PM me or post on here.


Thanks!

The better the site, the more cost your going to have. I've actually thought about doing the same thing. Here is what I came up with last I checked.

First off you have to have an offshore gambling license. This is a decent fee (I listed below). Then you have to have a program, or pay a company to build you the software for you. This can cost anywhere from $100,000 - $500,000 depending no how in depth you go, how nice it looks ect....Not to mention that when you first open your not going to make money, because you have to pay you debts for one. Also a HUGE thing...You have to have money in your bank to pay out all of the money your customers will be winning. Once your debt is paid and you get more customers you will start making money. Just like ANY business you WONT make money day one, hell maybe not even for a couple of years.
The biggest thing that will help you is you have to have great promotions and the best in customer support. If people have problems they will not come back.

Jurisdiction License Fee:
Anjounan - $17,500 + $10,000 Legal Fees
Grenada - $40,000 + $20,000 Legal Fees
Antigua - $75,000 + $10,000 Legal
Mohawk Territory (Canada) - $10,000 + $15,000 Legal
Costa Rica - $100 + $5,000 Legal
Alderney - $75,000 + $10,000 Legal
Panama - $60,000 + $20,00 Legal

Also, don't forget that you will have to move out of the country and will probably never be able to come back to the United States.

lol do it

...What?

There's a reason none of the poker sites are hosted in the US, and it ain't just tax. Operating a poker site in the US is illegal.

For what it's worth, it's illegal in Australia too

Yeah, ask billionaire Calvin Ayre (founder of Bodog) when the last time he visited his native Canada was...

Costa Rica it is then!

Costa Rica should be considered out of bounds, it's a US territory.

EDIT: I'm thinking of Puerto Rico. Nevermind.

Isn't Bodog based out of CR? My boss goes to visit them when he goes fishing in Costa Rica.

I believe Bodog's licensed by UK and CR governments. I'm not sure where they actually do business and call headquarters.

Seriously? I have (almost) that much unsecured credit in my wallet right now...

Do it man if you have the $$$ do it!!! Cant be worse than Absolute

Go for it.. At least waste your money on something big

(Calvin Ayre)
This was an interesting 2 page read http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/0327/112.html

What evidence do you have that he is in trouble in Canada?

It is true that there are laws prohibiting businesses to engage in gambling, but Bodog DOES NOT accept Canadian residents. So he is not violating any Canadian gambling laws.

Also, unlike the US, any other country (except the Philippines, I think) doesn't tax its citizens if they are not resident in their country. So he is not violating any tax laws either.

He even has real estate in Canada. Why would he have assets in Canada if he thought he was breaking any laws?

If you know something I don't, I would like to hear it.

akrocket82, the main issues to address are software, jurisdiction and marketing.

As far as I know, you basically have 3 options regarding software:

1. Get a skin in an existing poker network
2. Select software from an existing poker site developer, and license it
3. Go all the way and develop your own software

With 1), you basically become a marketing person for that network. It is very cheap to start, you have no software issues to deal with, you have poker game activity from the network, but you have very little flexibility and earn less.

With 2), your troubles are considerably more, including software, getting volume, and so on.

With 3), you have the biggest upfront expense, the most profit if you make it, and the least chance to make it. You would be competing with PokerStars, PartyPoker and Full Tilt Poker.

In all cases, you need to deal with jurisdictional issues and possibly relocate yourself. Crummy's summary in this regard is very nice.

I don't know much about marketing, but you will have to somehow market another mouse trap. I don't want to discourage you. Just be realistic how you will get customers.

If you decide to do it, I wish you good luck.


P.S. BTW, I am currently developing a poker site software. I intend to use it (whenever I finish it) for non-commercial purposes, just fun games for play money and freerolls. If you need something to get you started under option 2, I might be able to help you there (unless there are legal issues). Just keep in mind I am not in this business and have no intention to be in it.

I do believe I just read he has been back to Canada, even though he settled an insider trading case against him nearly ten years ago. Looks to be in the clear to me.

Setting up a company, software and actually getting it going will be a huge expense IMO. Not to mention legal fees, copyrights, patents, lawsuits .. .etc.

Yes, the article provided by beanaddict mentions that. And that case is not even related to gambling.

I've actually considered writing my own poker software as well, just for fun. The toughest part IMO is the RNG. The rest of it's pretty basic. Of course once you have software, you still have to be able to move out of the country (if you're in the US), market your product VERY well, probably give out bonuses and such that lose you money in the short run but win you money in the long run (for example duplicate poker is giving a free $10 to anyone who gets an account, if you do something like that everyone would at least try it out, and if you can get them hooked, the ones who bust may reload. Just remember that there are already sites out there offering 100% and sometimes more bonuses, so you would be competing with them as well (full tilt mainly comes to mind). Good luck.

If you do start a poker site have a 10,000$ + freeroll for CC, or give us all a 50 $ sign up no deposit bonus lol

As soon as my BR reaches $1,000,000 I'm setting up my own site...

I'm almost there!

Did anyone even think he could be talking about a WEB SITE?

It did cross my mind.. but I thought surely he wouldn't come to a competitor and ask for help lol.

What are the odds he wants to open an online casino?

Just make sure it has a great name. Something like Big Juicy Odds does not make me want to play there.

1.01:1? he said "site/room". also he talked about "finding information on it", which i doubt he'd really need to do to start a forum or something

Don't forget about advertising afterwards. That will be a BIG factor in getting your business to be successful. You will probably need to spend another couple thousand (maybe even more) to get some good advertising to spread the word about your site.

zachvac, for fun software you can use any RNG (Random Number Generator). No one is going to try to break it when there are no benefits to them.

I have used RNG libraries with quality that is the same as what the poker sites use. All you need is to call the appropriate routines in these libraries. If you need details, PM me and I will give you details. Or start another thread for that topic. I don't want to discuss this here since I don't want members to start dying of boredom.

How about "Tiny Terrible Odds" instead?

The free $10 is like play money. I doubt you could ever withdraw it, and they will make it back in rake well before you get to a significant bankroll to withdraw. Most folks will roll it right back into the site. And then a pretty good majority will redeposit real funds.

Good marketing strategy in my book.

BTW - as to the topic. Make sure you either know networking and network security, or hire someone (after a thorough background check) that does know it. Your site needs to be highly available to the network, and just a Dell server with an RNG won't cut the mustard.

Fixed your quote for you

Marketing is seriously, seriously expensive. You could do it on the cheap, but it probably wouldn't get you far. Competing with the Full Tilts and PokerStars of the world would set you back some serious, serious money: player endorsements, event sponsorships, bonuses and online advertising, print advertising... none of this stuff comes cheap.

I honestly thought he was talking about making a website at first, then people started posting about software and such. Looking back, what individual who would want to open an online gambling site with program would come here to ask for info? Makes me weary, but it would take a group of investors, or a venture capatilist at least. But I definitely think he wants to make a site similar to this one.

Not really. If you have 10K members and you offer a $10 bonus to your next 2500 members; if your original 10K members take that $25K from the new members (probably donks), you better have the $25K to pay the old members the money they rightfully won from the new players. All monies deposited, no matter the method, needs to be able to be funded.

So, rake on that play won't offset it that much? Maybe only 3%?