xGov-210 - Lotto Race Advertising on Vestige - RETROACTIVE

Governance xGov Proposals
1

id: 210
period: 4
title: Lotto Race Advertising on Vestige - RETROACTIVE
author: Massimo Morselli (@mmorselli)
company_name: Massimo Morselli
category: Community
focus_area: Gaming
open_source: No
funding_type: Retroactive
amount_requested: 10000
delivery_date: 2023-11-01

Abstract

LOTTO RACE is a multi-token crypto game. Currently, it consists of two lotteries: a traditional one with a 24-hour draw where users bet against each other, and an instant one where users bet against the computer. The main feature of the game is fairness, with the 24-hour lottery having no house fees, with 100% of what is played returning to the players, while the instant lottery has fees only to fund jackpots and payback (any excess is used for token buybacks). The project has been operational since November 2023, but has remained largely unknown since then, despite efforts to promote it on social networks and among the (small) communities of supported coins. A lottery without users doesnā€™t work, so Iā€™m applying for a grant to fund a long-term Vestige campaign (banner).

Team

LOTTO RACE is written and maintained only by its author

Experience with Algorand

The author has combined his knowledge in this project (Using SDKs, Building applications, Understanding of DApps, Knowledge about the ecosystem, Running nodes, Managing communities)

Present Proposal

LOTTO RACE is a multi-token crypto game. Currently, it consists of two lotteries: a traditional one with a 24-hour draw where users bet against each other, and an instant one where users bet against the computer. Although it has its native token (LOTTOR), the game is open to any Algorand ASA that can ensure a decent number of players, currently supporting 6 coins. The main feature of the game is fairness, with the 24-hour lottery having no house fees, with 100% of what is played returning to the players, while the instant lottery has fees only to fund jackpots and payback (any excess is used for token buybacks). The project has been operational since November 2023, but has remained largely unknown since then, despite efforts to promote it on social networks and among the (small) communities of supported coins. A lottery without users doesnā€™t work, so Iā€™m applying for a grant to fund a long-term Vestige campaign (banner). The requested amount should finance at least 300 days of visibility, probably divided into shorter periods with pauses to maximize the outcome. 100% of the grant will be paid to Vestige, so the contribution will not only benefit this project but also one of the best Algorand projects.

Deliverable

The game has been running since November 2023 and can be reached at https://www.lottorace.cloud/.

Future Blueprint

If the user base grows in the future, additional games beyond the two currently present will be added. No grants will be required for the development or system maintenance.

Benefits for the community

The main benefit for the community is to provide a use case for community coins that often have no use case. Blockchain Gaming are essential to attract users to Algorand as we cannot expect large user bases only from financial applications

Additional information

The entire project is described in detail in the website https://project.lottorace.cloud/

1 Like
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Vidhyanandcs commented 8 hours ago:

As per the new ARC 34 rules advertisement expenses cannot be included in xGov

This is really bad, visibility is the only thing I need, without that the project is dead. I donā€™t think itā€™s fair, is there anything I can do to address the issue?

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Another note - the window for submitting proposals for xGov period 4 is already closed. As weā€™re currently in the feedback phase.

Thereā€™s quite a vibrant Algorand community on X/Twitter. Perhaps you might want to try that first, by being active on there. Which can help driving new users to LottoRace, build up some chatter around it and get the flywheel started.

Paid advertisements hardly fixes the issues people face with building a sustainable project. Better to just be on the places where your target group might be (X / Discord etc), actively promote & interact there and nurture the first couple of users you gain from it to let them help you spread the word.

If you truly believe in LottoRace, at least you should be able to get from 0 - 10 (zero to ten) without ads. Perhaps from 10 - 100 (accelerating to a bigger audience) it might come in handy. But then youā€™d be able to sustain it from the LOTTOR token, as tokenomics says that 10% is attributed for promotions.

Best of luck building!

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Hi @mmorselli, unfortunately xGov doesnā€™t fund gambling products.

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Unfortunately, I have tried this strategy for months, but Algorand seems like a ghost town even on Twitter. I have regularly posted on Blog, Twitter, Discord and Telegram, started initiatives, formed partnerships with other communities, but itā€™s all useless, it seems that the Algorand community is not ā€œvibrantā€ enough.

https://twitter.com/LottoRace_Algo

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I hate gambling too, this was meant to be different, but I understand the reluctance. However, it would be hard to reach the masses only with financial products

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Iā€™ll be honest, I saw this project mentioned once on Reddit a couple months ago, then didnā€™t hear about it anywhere else so it slipped my mind. I try to be heavily engaged. So, it seems like you just arenā€™t breaking through the first hump of getting noticed.

Blog posts are not likely to be seen unless people are specifically seeking them out. Same with having a Discord. You need to make genuine community connections first. Otherwise you will get drowned out.

Looking at your Twitter, it seems like you need to be more active there in particular. I recommend joining some community organized Twitter spaces and coming up to speak. Thatā€™s a HUGE first step. If people make a personal connection with you they will help you promote and give you even more ideas about how to make deeper connections.

Hang out a few times and get to know some people that way (tell folks what you are working on, but also hang a bit and not just shill). Perhaps @Richflairstv can have you on ForTheCulture to get a little exposure if you have a good pitch down.

The important things though are connections and consistency.

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This is impossible, as many non-native speakers I cannot sustain a real-time voice conversation. If I donā€™t understand half of what youā€™re asking me Iā€™ll just look dumb. With a more engaged community there would be people capable of doing it in my place, but itā€™s a chicken-and-egg problem. Thatā€™s why I thought about advertising, to increase the number of people in the community and try to reach this critical mass

Itā€™s no secret that the overall Algorand community is not what we expected it to be years ago, perhaps it would be a good idea to reflect on the reasons for these difficulties, without thinking that everything is fine and there is nothing to fix. My case might be unique, but if I cry, other projects donā€™t laugh. Algorand does not fund advertising because they themselves have never placed much value on it

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Didnā€™t realize you were a non-native English speaker. Where are you from? I presume Italy? Are you connected up with some of the other folks in Algo in Italy (eg Kappa/Jacopi).

And yeah, Algo isnā€™t without its challenges, but projects are competing for mindshare on any chain. Connections and consistency are important everywhere in order break through.

With regards to paying for marketing through xGov, this was a rule change because of the possibility for misuse and abuse. There was significant outcry when PactFi was basically able to just pass a large marketing allocation for itself. There was fear that this is largely a black hole with no oversight and that these platforms could just keep granting themselves marketing budgets that really are meant to promote actual development. After discussion on the Algo discord and a community meeting, ARC 34 was amended to keep this from being a recurring problem.

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This is the best compliment Iā€™ve received today :grin:

Yes, Iā€™m Italian. This is not a country where you have many opportunities to speak English with other people, so we write it quite well but speak it quite poorly, generally speaking. Yep, I chat with Kappa almost every day

This is understandable, but we shouldnā€™t throw the baby out with the bathwater, instead we should just find better rules. For instance, only approving campaigns promoted by other Algorand projects with traceable on-chain payments, as was the spirit of my proposal. Marketing is the heart and soul of business.

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If you need help marketing your product please reach out to me.

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Hi @mmorselli personally, I have nothing against your business model. However, AF had to abide by certain rules, and funding anything to do with gambling is not possible. Your proposal will not be included in the next voting session, but you are welcome to apply again in the future within the programs limitations.
Thank you for being an active and valued member of our community!

1 Like