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Ask HN: what do you think of our idea?

by gdhillon on 1/28/12, 6:22 PM with 15 comments

Hi All,

Could you please provide feedback and let us know what do you think of our idea? Also, provide feedback on the design?

http://jackpotbuddy.com/index.aspx

Thanks for your help in advance.

  • by kls on 1/28/12, 7:50 PM

    I think you have a good niche, I don't think it will be huge but it could definitely provide a good income to a small team.

    That being said, there are some trust issues that you will have to deal with and you should address them right up front. Basically right after a prospective users knows what you do, the next question in their mind is going to be how do I know I wont get screwed? you will have to solve for this problem.

    I looks like you are letting them form their own groups, but I would assume for it to be truly powerful, users will eventually have to group up with people they don't know. Some people are going to want to pull in large number groups and their network will not be able to support that.

    You should also track winnings if it is possible, so that you can build a winner rating for people. While it may not be a relevant state gambling is based of a lot of emotion so emotionally people with a winning record will be looked at as having a badge of honor and will be sought out to pool with.

    You should research the laws to see if you can be a purchasing entity for tickets, that you then hold in pools for groups. You should check with state lotteries to see if you can become a retailer of tickets, if so you could build a revenue stream by selling tickets into a trust for pools. I would disclose any quick pick type numbers selected by the pool before the lottery drawings so their can be no question as to transparency of what is being purchased by the pool. Further, a system where you can estimate winnings would be valuable, basically taking the payout of the lottery and splitting it by the amount of people in the pool that way people get a good view of what joining a pool will return if it wins. I would use real immediate payout dollars and not the funny math the states use for advertisement.

  • by saurabh on 1/28/12, 6:26 PM

    >Playing lottery in groups can increase your chances of winning by 4000%

    Can you explain why?

  • by joshontheweb on 1/29/12, 7:13 AM

    Wouldn't it be more beneficial overall if you threw everyone into the same pool. Then the win chance as high as possible and anytime anyone wins, everyone wins? I don't really gamble, but if I did I'd try it as long as I felt sure I could trust the service.

  • by connor on 1/30/12, 7:43 AM

    The ideas is little weak- playing the lottery in a group does increase the chance you will be a winner, but the risk/reward ratio remains the same. I'm not sure I get it.

    The design is a good start, keep pushing it.

  • by vertr on 1/28/12, 6:46 PM

    The design looks like a standard wordpress template. And it looks like it actually is based on your gallery images here: https://img.skitch.com/20120128-1gbrkerrmatub6d6c461xku3ht.j...

    As far as the idea goes, it seems like you could come up with something that finds a better niche in the market than this.

  • by gdhillon on 1/28/12, 6:22 PM