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I also think that a 30% rake-off is high. Ih fact it's considerably higher than on any of the proper gambling sites. But then Fencer isn't competing with these; this isn't a gambling site. I rather think these tournaments are just to add a flavour of excitement for those that want it. True, there will to be people going into these tourneys blindly but I suspect that most of the ones who have a decent chance to win will know what they're doing. Those with no chance would be in it for the fun and would have already written off 100% of their stake anyway. A win for them would thus be a huge and unexpected bonus!
I seriously doubt that there's the makings of a big scam here. For a start these tournaments aren't going to be flooded by people and money, plus they'll take forver to complete, just like ordinary tournaments. So I'd say the opportunity is a small one. If someone were consistently winning (especially in a luck-based game) then sooner or later they'd come under scrutiny and would likely be found out. But assume that these problems don't exist and someone was able to win a lot without detection .. there's then the problem of "laundering" the Brains - finding people who'll fork over the cash to the scammer instead of purchasing through Fencer. That's likely to be a lot more work that it's worth.
As a comparison of sorts. At VogClub, a non-gambling Chess/Backgammon site there are also money tournaments (Vog "tokens" equivalent to 1 cent). These have an entry fee of 2 tokens and a stake of 10 or 50 tokens. The 10-token ones have a high rake-off (20%) but 12 cents is cheap enough that you wouldn't care too much. Despite this they're very underpopulated. I've played in three-player tournaments (and lost to a beginner! ). I'd imagine that here, when people realise that it costs $1.50 to enter a money tourney, they will see it as only an occasional treat.
(kaŝi) Se vi volas saluti iun en ties denaska lingvo, provu nian 'vortaron de ludanto', en la ligo "pli pri lingvoj" sub la flagoj. (pauloaguia) (Montri ĉiujn konsilojn)