[lug] Looking for sweat equity partners in gaming system

[Bear Giles]

Since I was asked to clarify and others might not have picked up on some of
the details:

1. "sweat equity" was something that might have been common in the 90s but,
especially in Boulder, anything with a reasonable shot of success will be
attractive to venture capital. You need to kick-start the process, of
course, but you should think long and hard before doing anything for
somebody else for no compensation other than "sweat equity". This might be
attractive to recent graduates trying to get their first job but, honestly,
I don't know how much weight anyone would give one these jobs as
"professional experience".

2. The gaming industry is mature and there's a huge entry barrier to be
competitive. Again, in the 90s you could go a long way with a good idea and
one or two competent graphics designers but that's not the case today.

3. Poker, specifically, falls into a special category. I haven't kept up
with the law but the last I heard it was illegal to play online for money
in the US and while some organizations were trying to get a license through
an established gaming company in Nevada that just brings you back to the
second point - you're going against competition with deep pockets.

In the meanwhile I know some companies were operating on foreign servers
but that's of marginal use if the feds start twisting arms at the credit
card companies. They wouldn't have to twist hard - as one of the terms you
can't use credit cards for illegal activities (see federal law) and most if
not all also include explicit restrictions on gambling.

So, yeah, the 'heh' was because I haven't seen anyone proposing "sweat
equity" in a long time.  (I have seen people proposing "work for us now and
we'll pay you later" but that's a different matter.)

The 'ahem' was because it's either a) illegal for the players or b) against
the terms of credit card usage or c) currently legal and okay but that
could easily go away tomorrow. Not an issue if I have cash on the
barrelhead but if I'm working for "equity" that's a HUGE gamble. So to
speak.

Bear
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