But that isn't actually why I'm here.
I'm here 'cause in the last 3 years I've spent a huge, frankly ridiculous amount of time writing a piece of casino software. Some guys like to build cars, some guys like to skydive, some guys get to be David Duchovny; what can I say. I wanted to do it. Hopeless and impossible? Yes. Never stopped me before.
At first I thought I could sell it to Vegas somehow. That didn't so much pan. I kept working at it. I sweated on it day and night, every scrap of free time I had. I'm a freelance coder, so I have plenty of time off. Meanwhile, I left my home in the States for good and became sort of an international recluse.
So what started as a basement project, turned into a beta site with a hundred players and a bunch of freerolls a couple times a week. I kept improving it and fixed hundreds of bugs. All the guys knew each other somehow, friends of friends. It was a little private club and it was grand. Since no one was allowed to deposit, everbody won.
I ran it like that for a year, kept adding new games until I got it up to 20, and ended the testing. I ran out of money but found some lawyers to work on it for a piece of the future rake.
I'm a programmer, designer and jack of all trades, and I'm of the old school when it comes to anything vice related. I drink bourbon and I smoke like it's going out of style. I don't care for drugs or anything I can't see through in a glass. Grew up visiting my grandparents at the old Vegas Towers off Flamingo and spent a lot of time in my early years standing in the darker corners of the Hilton floor and watching my ma and grandma throw away their silver dollars. By the time I was five or six I knew when my mom was throwing out a card she should have held.
I'm not great with numbers; I failed pre-calculus, dropped out of school, quit my web job, and spent a few years waiting tables in New York and driving a taxi in LA. But somehow programs make sense to me, and what started as a hobby became an obsession. I always loved to gamble, but luckily I had the self-control to stop eventually. My dad always said I was a "born loser" -- said he'd never seen anyone as bad a gambler as me. But when my two hobbies, or obsessions, collided ...well, this project was born. And in two months, I'm gonna set it loose on the world.
It's not going to be like anything else out there. I'm not trying to be a billionaire; hell, I'd be happy to have it pay my rent. I don't want a million users, affiliates, or spammers. I want a small, tight club, word of mouth, not a ton of fish, just friends of friends. I might only open it on Thursdays. Who knows. Eventually it might be something.
Anyway, that's why I'm here. Because I've been reading the Meister for awhile and I've taken all his advice to heart, especially where it concerns doing right by the player and doing things in a way that are honorable and transparent. Trust is the biggest failure of most online casinos, and it's one place I'm really going to set myself apart. It's a point of honor for me. If I hit 1000 players and can't handle it myself, and can't hire anybody, I'm going to cap the signups.
I don't have the cash to license in Gibraltar, I'm going for Costa Rica and no license. I'm not going to accept any players from the US. I don't care if I make $10 a day, 'cause my own work is free and I'll run the phones until I've got enough to make more. I'm not going to give extravagant bonuses and then run some sleazy deal on them. I don't like slot machines, I only have one, and it's more of a brain teaser than a drool-box. What's more, I've got some games I'm starting that are mathematically very weird, and I've got no doubt some smart guy's going to come along and figure 'em and beat 'em, and I'm glad to pay him for his trouble. Maybe I'll bring him in on the project if he does. And I've got a lot of new ideas about how things should be run, because by and large, it's been my observation that online casinos couldn't care less about their players.
Anyway. I'm not posting a link to my site here and I'm not going to send it if you ask, 'til it's open, anyway. I'm doing this because as this project finally gets its legs I'm starting to have some ideas I just need to run by the experts, see what you guys like and what you don't. If you just want to laugh at my project, do me a favor and do what your ma told you, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothin'. If you have some ideas, like, you always wanted to see something but no one ever took your opinion about it, 'cause you're just some grumpy dude who thinks internet casinos suck, then by all means lay 'em on me. So far I've done 9/10ths of things my players have asked for, but I'm looking for fresh ideas.
Nice to make your acquaintance, and good luck to all.
JS.
I'm here 'cause in the last 3 years I've spent a huge, frankly ridiculous amount of time writing a piece of casino software. Some guys like to build cars, some guys like to skydive, some guys get to be David Duchovny; what can I say. I wanted to do it. Hopeless and impossible? Yes. Never stopped me before.
At first I thought I could sell it to Vegas somehow. That didn't so much pan. I kept working at it. I sweated on it day and night, every scrap of free time I had. I'm a freelance coder, so I have plenty of time off. Meanwhile, I left my home in the States for good and became sort of an international recluse.
So what started as a basement project, turned into a beta site with a hundred players and a bunch of freerolls a couple times a week. I kept improving it and fixed hundreds of bugs. All the guys knew each other somehow, friends of friends. It was a little private club and it was grand. Since no one was allowed to deposit, everbody won.
I ran it like that for a year, kept adding new games until I got it up to 20, and ended the testing. I ran out of money but found some lawyers to work on it for a piece of the future rake.
I'm a programmer, designer and jack of all trades, and I'm of the old school when it comes to anything vice related. I drink bourbon and I smoke like it's going out of style. I don't care for drugs or anything I can't see through in a glass. Grew up visiting my grandparents at the old Vegas Towers off Flamingo and spent a lot of time in my early years standing in the darker corners of the Hilton floor and watching my ma and grandma throw away their silver dollars. By the time I was five or six I knew when my mom was throwing out a card she should have held.
I'm not great with numbers; I failed pre-calculus, dropped out of school, quit my web job, and spent a few years waiting tables in New York and driving a taxi in LA. But somehow programs make sense to me, and what started as a hobby became an obsession. I always loved to gamble, but luckily I had the self-control to stop eventually. My dad always said I was a "born loser" -- said he'd never seen anyone as bad a gambler as me. But when my two hobbies, or obsessions, collided ...well, this project was born. And in two months, I'm gonna set it loose on the world.
It's not going to be like anything else out there. I'm not trying to be a billionaire; hell, I'd be happy to have it pay my rent. I don't want a million users, affiliates, or spammers. I want a small, tight club, word of mouth, not a ton of fish, just friends of friends. I might only open it on Thursdays. Who knows. Eventually it might be something.
Anyway, that's why I'm here. Because I've been reading the Meister for awhile and I've taken all his advice to heart, especially where it concerns doing right by the player and doing things in a way that are honorable and transparent. Trust is the biggest failure of most online casinos, and it's one place I'm really going to set myself apart. It's a point of honor for me. If I hit 1000 players and can't handle it myself, and can't hire anybody, I'm going to cap the signups.
I don't have the cash to license in Gibraltar, I'm going for Costa Rica and no license. I'm not going to accept any players from the US. I don't care if I make $10 a day, 'cause my own work is free and I'll run the phones until I've got enough to make more. I'm not going to give extravagant bonuses and then run some sleazy deal on them. I don't like slot machines, I only have one, and it's more of a brain teaser than a drool-box. What's more, I've got some games I'm starting that are mathematically very weird, and I've got no doubt some smart guy's going to come along and figure 'em and beat 'em, and I'm glad to pay him for his trouble. Maybe I'll bring him in on the project if he does. And I've got a lot of new ideas about how things should be run, because by and large, it's been my observation that online casinos couldn't care less about their players.
Anyway. I'm not posting a link to my site here and I'm not going to send it if you ask, 'til it's open, anyway. I'm doing this because as this project finally gets its legs I'm starting to have some ideas I just need to run by the experts, see what you guys like and what you don't. If you just want to laugh at my project, do me a favor and do what your ma told you, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothin'. If you have some ideas, like, you always wanted to see something but no one ever took your opinion about it, 'cause you're just some grumpy dude who thinks internet casinos suck, then by all means lay 'em on me. So far I've done 9/10ths of things my players have asked for, but I'm looking for fresh ideas.
Nice to make your acquaintance, and good luck to all.
JS.
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