BringIt lets gamers put their money where their mouths are

July 3, 2009 | Dean Takahashi | Comments | |

bringitGamers like to brag. That’s why a lot of social networks have risen to serve their need to shout about their achievements. BringIt is going a step further by letting them place bets on their duels.

The Chicago-based company has created a portal where gamers can log in and challenge others to play networked console games on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii. The winner gets cash and BringIt takes a cut. The company is coming out of its beta testing soon.

“We’re taking online gaming and giving it a little edge,” says Woody Levin, the 30-year-old chief executive who founded BringIt in May, 2008.

bringit-logoIt sounds like gambling, but the games fall under the definition of games of skill, which are legal in most states, in contrast to games of chance, which are considered gambling. (See Eric Eldon’s piece on the distinction in social games). Instead of poker or BlackJack, the games of choice are titles such as Ultimate Fighting Championship 2009, Killzone 2, Halo 3, Madden NFL, Fifa Soccer, and Call of Duty World at War.

Where it’s allowed, BringIt extracts data from games or networks such as Xbox Live to get verified game results. Players also verify the scores themselves. If there’s a dispute, BringIt will resolve the disagreement, based on evidence such as shots of a game screen that show the results. BringIt displays results for others to see and brag about when they win.

If it sounds familiar, there is competition. Gamers Saloon has been doing something similar for a couple of years, but it hasn’t raised capital. Other companies such as Raptr have formed gamer social networks, but they haven’t made the leap into betting on games. BringIt, by contrast, isn’t really a social network. Its focus is on making betting transactions happen.

It isn’t easy to do. The original Xfire company tried to get gamers to bet against each other in matches, but it decided to end that business in favor of creating a chat tool for gamers. Now it is part of MTV Networks.

Levin said he got the idea by reaching back to his college days, when he played hockey at the University of Wisconsin. During winter break, the team stayed and played. In their downtime, they challenged each other at video games such as GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64. The winner would get a beer.

BringIt launched in November, 2008, and its user base has grown steadily. The company doesn’t release its user numbers, but Levin says it’s well over 50,000 and is growing 1 percent to 2 percent a day. Gamers have played more than 25,000 one-on-one matches. Fees run anywhere from $1 to $250 to join tournaments.

Over time, the company will add more options, such as clan-based team fights where 16 players can take on 16 rivals for money.

Players deposit money in a BringIt account, using credit cards, debit cards or paypal transfers. BringIt verifies that players are over 18 through a variety of identification means. The key to its expansion is adding lots of games that gamers want to play. Right now, there are a few dozen titles. Over time, the company could add PC games, mobile games, and even casual Flash-based web games.

BringIt raised an angel round of $1.34 million and it is looking for a first institutional round of funding now. The company has seven employees. Levin was previously founder of Riverbank Capital Management, an equity options trading firm, and InStadium, a company that put ads in restrooms in Major League Baseball and National Football League stadiums.

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About the Author, Dean Takahashi

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • This has been tried several times.
    Tournament.com: Went bust
    Kwari: Went bust
    Prizefight: Abandoned the business model to become Enemy Down.

    It keeps been tried because investors (ultra-competitive alpha males) believe it's a fantastic business model. But it's a rubbish model, basically because it is ALL about skill. If someone is better than you, you're going to lose money. So before long, you stop betting on yourself, because you lose. At which point the business doesn't scale. (Tom Jubert put it well over at the GameShadow blog: http://blog.gameshadow.com/?p=62

    These businesses will come round and round, but I'll be surprised if any of them ever make investor returns.

    (I also covered the demise of Kwari at http://www.gamesbrief.com/2008/06/is-kwaris-dem...)
  • morrisredbeard
    I think the tool above me Nicholas Lovell is a jealous tool and when he tried to pitch investors on his idea....all they could see was his shiny forehead. And man is that a shiny forehead!!!!!!

    Hey Nicholas,

    Tournament.com was for only 1 game and they had millions of dollars worth of servers around the world and not enough players from around the world who only play that one COMPUTER game.

    Kwari invented a COMPUTER game and couldn't get people to adapt to it's ways and controls. But again a COMPUTER game.

    So clearly you should look up things before you try and talk about them, but then again maybe your HUGE SHINY forehead got in the way.

    And yes its' all about Skill that's what makes the model great and amazing! Your right why would I continue to give a better skilled player my money, I WOULDN'T I would just play people in MY SKILL RANGE for better competition.
  • ad hominem attacks rarely convince people of your point of view.

    My professional opinion is that the costs of running a competitive gaming business (servers, anti-cheating measures, marketing, system administration) scale faster than the revenues that can be generated from persuading people to bet on themselves. Too many businesses (and I accept your point about *slightly* different business models for several of them) have failed for me to be convinced.

    I am convinced that it is easier to convince investors than it is to convince millions of players.

    So, for my money, I would steer clear of a skill-based cash-payment online games business.
  • noobiecrusher
    nicholas is a noobie
  • I am not much of a talker but when it comes to settling the score i always tend to do it with sheer force and technique.

    Pound my way physically into the head of the opposing force.

    And do it here:
    http://kabudlay.mybrute.com
  • david18
    I read this article this morning and in 10 minutes I registered, deposited money, challenged cyberspace, and set up my first game. . . . I play tonight and I expect to have a new friend/rival by about 8pm and 200 bills in my account . . . . love the "bark box" . . . .this is the sickest idea ever ! !
  • shawnfoust
    Law relating to internet betting is a lot more complex than the game of skill/game of chance divide. It's regulated state by state (and in some cases county by county) not to mention the overarching Federal regulation. I'm not saying it can't be done, but you had better boast a pretty solid geo-filtering technology in conjunction with a carefully worded EULA and fully expect some eyebrows to be raised among the enforcement community.

    That said, I would crush you all in Ms. Pacman.
  • forexportercom
  • Miramon
    Pathetic. Doomed.
  • mike
    morrisredbeard your character bashing is about the stupidest crap I have ever heard. You probably need to shut the f up and make a real point.