Betting on Roller Beetle Races

I suggested this ages ago, when mounts first came out. Would be really awesome to have a Beetle race of some sort, where people can bet gold on the racers and it could even post the players/racers odds and statistics prior to the race so you can make a calculated betting decision. The winners of the race get some percentage of the gold as well and perhaps have their own pvp style racing leader board or rank system.

You could make the race like a chariot race where there are pvp skills and you use them offensively against other riders while racing (they had this in gw1). Or, you could simply have a regular race on some sort of a track and the person who gets 1st wins.

I like the idea, but unfortunately it would be far too easy to cheat the system. Maybe not right now when loads of people are doing beetle races but when the hype dies down a bit there will be times when some tracks are empty. I've seen this already with the PoF races - I did the one in Brightwater Inlet in Desert Highlands and got dismounted twice, knocked down a cliff once and killed once, but I still came in 1st because I was the only one racing.

So all you'd need to do is get your guild together, agree who is going to race and who is going to win - one group races, one group bets. Share the money out afterwards, then swap round and do it again.

@Danikat.8537 said:I like the idea, but unfortunately it would be far too easy to cheat the system. Maybe not right now when loads of people are doing beetle races but when the hype dies down a bit there will be times when some tracks are empty. I've seen this already with the PoF races - I did the one in Brightwater Inlet in Desert Highlands and got dismounted twice, knocked down a cliff once and killed once, but I still came in 1st because I was the only one racing.

So all you'd need to do is get your guild together, agree who is going to race and who is going to win - one group races, one group bets. Share the money out afterwards, then swap round and do it again.

Mmh then what about giving random names to partecipants or not showing their names at all, while only showing their success rate in that race based on past performances?

Something like:Crazy Horse Jeorge: 9 times 1st place out of 10 races - x1.1 gold bet.Mr. Snittzle: 1 time 1st place out of 99 races - x25.0 gold bet.New Bie: First time racing - Can't bet on him yet/ x2.0 gold bet (both solutions could be fine for newcomers).And so on.

With all the controversy over 'loot boxes' being gambling, I'd be surprised to see more gambling added to the game.

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:With all the controversy over 'loot boxes' being gambling, I'd be surprised to see more gambling added to the game.

I don't think this would be considered in the loot box debate, because you'd be betting and winning gold, not gems. Yes it's possible to buy gold with gems and therefore with real money but the loot box debate has so far focused on cash shop purchases rather than any in-game systems. I think it's unlikely to go beyond that, otherwise almost all drops could be classified as loot boxes (not just the ones which are containers like champion bags, even individual equipment pieces are random drops from a loot table, it's just that the 'draw' happens behind the scenes).

On the other hand one of the things PEGI (the European games rating board) uses to evaluate games and set the age limit is whether there are systems which resemble real life gambling or which teach gambling, even if you can't win real money by playing them in the game. So for example a Star Wars game where you can play sabacc is ok, but one where you learn to play poker may receive a higher rating because it could potentially teach someone how to play poker for money.

I don't know the specifics of how they decide what is and isn't gambling, given that bets can be made on almost anything and any game could be played for money. Me and my siblings had a version of Bao where we replaced the 'shells' (wooden beads in our version) with small sweets or pennies and each player kept their winnings at the end of the game. I assume things like the moa races which used to happen in Lion's Arch were ok, because the outcome was random. But this would be more like a real-life horse race where you can make a decision based on statistics and information about the racers, so they might consider it more of an issue.

Well, I have a question because i'm not sure...if I live on Greece should i'll be included on possible winners or my country is not included?

We can't even bet on a race between cows. I doubt this is something Anet would want to push.

@DaFishBob.6518 said:We can't even bet on a race between cows. I doubt this is something Anet would want to push.

I forgot about that. I've always been disappointed they never actually got that working. I found the moa races more entertaining than I expected (admittedly not enough that I kept going back once I'd got the mini pets) and it would be nice to be able to bet on the cow races when they're happening.