Legality of money sploders in club?

Hey guys,

Starting up a club, and in my search for a money sploder (as I've seen in numerous other clubs) I clicked an info card for one, which had in it that the money sploders may be looked upon by LL as gambling, which would violate their gambling ban. The notecard proceeded to say that:

"..We were told by a couple of people who approached Linden Lab regarding those sploders that Linden Lab
will not take action against a sploder for now if it is the ONLY "gambling device" in a place.
We can not garantee for this information and we also got this information second hand.."

So if anyone has anything concrete I would appreciate the information. ^_^

Thanks guys,

Tov

I don't believe 'sploders fall under gambling rulings because you do not have to pay to play (much like Lucky chairs). To be a gamble, you have to pay in the hopes of winning. If you don't have to pay, it's just a random giveaway. (Odds are not increased for players who pay more).

This is not an official Linden reply - just my take on the situation.

Sploders generally require that particpants pay money in, in the hope of getting more money out. It's gambling.

Kudos to the sploder seller who wrote that notecard.

Maybe it's just me but all the sploders i've ever tried have been what I might refer to as "fractional devices".. i.e. I pay in and receive a fraction of what I put in.

If there are some now that pay out even if you don't put in then where's the incentive to put in?

Personally I think you should forget the sploder and place a charge on gesturbators.

You could have a tarrif:-

HooooooHoooo $100L
Multiline Howlzzzzzzz $500L
Truck $200L

etc.

Just make sure everyone wears a "i want to drain your account you gesturbating moron" HUD

Friggin Kitty bans anyone that gestures in her place and charges them $1000L to be allowed back. Sometimes it's harsh but i'd rather that than an evening of gestures.

Sorry to detract Tov, just thinking of alternate revenue streams

Actually, on slx forums, someone did say they'd happily pay $100L for say 3 hours of good live mixed dance/trance...

Personally, I think you should install the Russian Roulette table and play strip Russian Roulette, that's fun! (but it's pay to play)

We use a sploder at our club, the participants pay into the device and then when the maximum participants are reached the sploder starts spewing out balls.

The people then have to click on the balls to win points and then after a short time period the balls stop and the sploder counts the points that they have amassed by clicking the balls and pays out the winnings based on points earned.

Dunno if thats technically gambling as you have to click the balls to earn points and its dam popular

Wonder if LL will ban it now

That actually sounds a lot more fun than the ones that just give me back a fraction of what i've paid in.

Hey Tov, if you're looking to raise funds, why not just sell off used pink thongs?

The maker is Arthur Corrigible just in case u wanna look him up in game

Ho hum! Sassy strikes my forums AGAIN! Paying L$1,000 to someone to put a hit on my darling, sweet *cough*, innocent *cough COUGH* neighbor! Hehe just kiddin Sassy hon, I wouldn't pay someone else to do it

As for the sploders... the "fractional" sploder is technically considered gambling from what I gather (not an official LL report mind you). The particpant pays in, in the hopes of getting more back... the "fraction" that you get back is purely random based, requires no skill... thats gambling (sorry, used to work in the Casino industry in rl hehe)

As for the one with the bubbles coming out... thats along the lines of the new "vote" sploders, where bubbles shoot out, and the more bubbles you click the more you earn, as well as for the voters, the more votes you get, the more you earn... neither is based on a random number generated so neither are gambling... one is a popularity contest and the other is a game based on skill which is purely legit by LL's ToS.

And finally, the sploder that a wonderful lady who owns her own club pointed me to, which is similar to the old "fractional" sploders we all know and love, but no randomness to it. (Thanks Susi!) Here is the description:

"...This sploder is identical to the sploders that were originally in sl except it is totally legal because it pays out on a continuous 5-cycle method instead of a random payout like the old ones did. Therefore it is based on skill of identifying the cycles and trying to pay in at the right time..."

So by having a continuous 5-cycle method, meaning (by example) 1st entrant will be winner, next game 6th entrant will be winner, next game 3rd entrant will be winner, on and on, its taking out the randomness of the old "illegal" sploders... now, while we all got pissy because someone drops in L$5 and we put in L$25 and they win L$300 while we win L$1 it was still nice to get SOMETHING back. This sploder reads to me like whoever hit the cycle correctly will be the winner of the pot for that round... I'm honestly not quite sure. On the same token, if 10 people put in L$10 each, on the first round, that'll put the pot up to L$100 of which 40% will be paid out to those who put in to 1 lucky winner... then they just hit it again and again and again....because the full 100% of the pot isnt put out, the bigger the pots per round, the bigger the prize... even if you go 4 times in a row without hitting the right cycle, as soon as you DO actually hit that cycle, you'll get your money back and then some

So, there's my personal understandings of sploders in SL today, and the way they work, and my personal take on the new sploder which you can find here:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Crystal%20Springs%202/85/240/22

in many different shapes and designs.

Word of the wise, in that first message about ...

"..We were told by a couple of people who approached Linden Lab regarding those sploders that Linden Lab
will not take action against a sploder for now if it is the ONLY "gambling device" in a place.
We can not garantee for this information and we also got this information second hand.."

The notecard also read

".. should you have any doubts if you can run and operate this sploder, DO NOT PURCHASE NOR OPERATE IT.."

So my suggestion is that while the new sploder on the 5-cycle thingy is legal and maybe not as all around as the old ones... I'd buy the new 5-cycle sploder just to stay on the safe side People will still come, and play, and generate traffic and revenue to your sim, and if the sploder is the ONLY thing that brings people in, ya may need a club overhaul ^_^

LOVE YA EVERYONE ^_^

That change won't prevent it being considered gambling - it's how real life fruit machines (in the UK, at least) work. They pay out on a fixed cycle, but when you put your money in, you don't know where in the cycle you are; so it's perceptually random, even if not actually so.

Sploders are iffy to say the least, I wouldn't risk running one.

If the sploder let's people participate without payment then it's in a grey area because for the sploder to pay out someone needs to pay in, but not everyone needs to pay in.

The linden sploder I'm talking about does not require a pay in, therefore would not be gambling.

As for the motivation for such a 'sploder, it's a traffic builder, plain and simple.

Depends on Zara L's mood that day.

Hey, i'll have you know that getting back only a fraction of my money is a well honed skill!!

Sell the used pink thongs damnit, you know you want to

While this is true somewhat, there is a skill in finding out the cycle. If you're playing craps, or blackjack, or whatever casino game you want, there is no fixed set, only a possibility of 12+ rolls of the dice, fall of the cards etc. With this method though, if you watch how it goes, you can figure it out and you can beat it. Not saying everyone could, I probably couldnt. But it can be done.

And yes, a sploder is a traffic builder, plain and simple. I've been in at least 15 clubs that run the old sploder, that "fractional" sploder, and all still do to this day. I might as well have spent my 500L on one of those since people like 'em, and if LL came down and said "That is illegal, get rid of it" I will. Heck I dunno lol.

And no Sassy, Fiona is keeping the used ones in a collection hanging on the wall of your dungeon *grins*