CFKman's
prizegames.com Informational pages:
9/21/2002: prizegames.com pulls the plug in 14 states
D'oh!
If you're a prizegames.com regular player, you have noticed that
their site had been down for prizebucks and cash/tournaments play
since Wednesday, September 11, 2002. This was presumably due to
a redesign of their site to try to comply with regulatory
rules concerning games of skill in certain states.
Today (Saturday, September 21, 2002) they have re-enabled their
site again, but now they enforce "entertainment mode only" for
14 states in the US. The states this affects are: Arizona,
Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota
and Washington state.
Figure 1: If you live in one of the states highlighted in the image above,
as of September 21, 2002 you are no longer eligible to play on
prizegames.com for prizes or for tournament cash.
Follow this link to
read the full text of
prizegames.com's explanation of the new rules and how they
determine your state of origin. This change affects approximately
67 million people in the US (about 1/4 of the population).
What this change means
This change either affects you or it doesn't; there's no middle ground.
For those of you
lucky enough to not live in one of the ineligible states, you're
back in business, able to play games for guaranteed prizes on
prizegames.com. But if you live in an ineligible state, you now
can only play in "entertainment mode only", which means you can
play the games, but it's only for fun and you won't accumulate
any prizebucks that you can trade in for prizes.
Unfortunately most players
that this affects will likely not return to the site if they
can't play for guaranteed prizes.
(This affect me personally, unfortunately, because I live in
New Jersey. Luckily, I was recently able to trade in about
212,000 prizebucks for a web certificate award before all the
hubbub started. Unluckily, I still had about $100 worth of
prizebux + credits in my account prior to the site changes that
took place beginning on 9/11/2002. UPDATE! 10/04/2002: for
the thousands of prizegames customers in affected states,
prizegames.com has sent reimbursement checks in an amount
equivalent to the approximate value of prizebucks plus
credits. This is a classy thing to do on their part and
they deserve thanks for this: thanks, prizegames!)
Prizegames.com is not at fault: some recommendations
We shouldn't put any blame on prizegames.com for this change.
They're only trying to comply with regulatory rules in certain
states regarding games of skill. But here are a few recommendations
for prizegames.com:
- For players who live in ineligible states, prizegames should
figure out some way players could be reimbursed for their accumulated
prizebucks and credits, which now appear to be lost forever.
This is especially important for players
who may have recently purchased credits with real cash.
UPDATE! 10/04/2002: for the thousands of prizegames customers in
affected states, prizegames.com has sent reimbursement checks in an
amount equivalent to the approximate value of prizebucks plus credits.
This is a classy thing to do on their part and they deserve thanks
for this: thanks, prizegames!
- Investigate whether or not terminating for-cash tournaments
might allow all states to participate for just credits and prizebucks
- Instead of guaranteeing prizes, perhaps move to a format that
is used on other games sites like pogo.com and funbug.com where
accumulated bankrolls will only get you a chance at winning a prize
(as opposed to being guaranteed a prize). Of course, this would change
the whole "100% guaranteed" slogan that has been the core of prizegames.com
for the past two years
- Post links to the rules for each ineligible state so that
players can read and better understand the rules and perhaps
try to get the rules changed.
Players can also take some action theselves:
- Be supportive of prizegames.com; remember it's not their fault
that this change has happened--they are only trying to comply with
some states' regulatory rules
- Search for the law/rule in your state concerning this rule,
then write your representatives to express your displeasure
That's all for now. I'll attempt to keep you updated about any
changes that may occur.