You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 506 How to Exploit a Loophole

Qin Shaoyan smiled slightly and said nonchalantly, "This is indeed a small trouble, but it doesn't matter. There are many ways to avoid it."

Fred nodded. "We are looking for a professional lawyer who is proficient in this area of ​​law. I believe they will give good advice."

Zhang Pingyi was a little worried and asked, "Isn't this business too risky? What if the subsequent laws continue to tighten? Or even just cut it off across the board?"

Fred laughed. "That's impossible, my friend. The laws in the United States are very flexible. As long as you have Mane!"

"Let's talk about making money, let's not talk about whether it's a knife or not." Qin Shaoyan said with a relaxed look: "All business has risks, it doesn't matter how high or low it is, it depends on the profit."

"Moreover, the Unlawful Online Gambling Enforcement Act is just a piece of waste paper. It looks intimidating, but it will be repealed in less than two years. Online gambling is a huge pie."

There are currently 2300 gambling websites on the Internet, and the amount involved in global online gambling is as high as US$120 billion each year.

Although nearly half of these sites' users live in the United States, nearly all of them are headquartered outside the United States.

The development of online gambling has secretly displeased the interest groups that insist on the traditional gambling industry. They tried to resist the booming online poker platform that seriously harmed their business. They set up the "Alliance to Stop Online Gambling" and spent a lot of money lobbying the government.

Among them is Sheldon Adelson, chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Group and known as the "King of Gambling". He used his strong financial strength to influence the political circles and used a series of publicity activities to make the United States say "no" to online gambling.

Sheldon Adelson believes that online gambling projects are "harmful to society" and damage the reputation of the entire industry. In order to prove his point, the "gambler" is currently actively planning a public publicity campaign to prove how online gambling harms children, the poor and other audiences.

However, Adelson's competitors in the gaming industry believe that the online gambling business model is both safe and profitable.

Some competitors say that blindly banning online gambling may lead to the emergence of an underground gambling black market.

Others pointed out that Adelson kept saying he was against online gambling, but his company had obtained an online gambling license as early as 2003. In response, Adelson said that this was just an "exploratory attempt" in business.

At the same time, relevant data show that online gambling is often associated with money laundering and organized crime, and poses a serious threat to the growth of young people. Therefore, the United States firmly opposes and combats online gambling.

A bill to curb online gambling was passed, which would ban the use of credit cards and other payment methods for online gambling transactions and promise law enforcement agencies to work with Internet service providers to prevent gamblers from accessing gambling websites.

In October 2006, the Bush administration signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, prohibiting U.S. banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions from providing funds transfer services between gambling websites and players.

Qin Shaoyan said lightly: "The traditional gambling industry bought off the Republicans and proposed a bill against online gambling in the House of Representatives through lobbying."

"These people relied on the Elephant Party to win, but next year is the presidential election, and the Elephant Party cannot beat the Donkey Party."

Fred was a little surprised. "You are so optimistic that the Donald Trump Party will win the election?"

"Not only will they win the election, but they will win by a large margin. By then, the Democratic Party will also take over both the Senate and the House of Representatives." Qin Shaoyan pointed to the sky, "I asked someone to predict that the United States will have its first black president next year."

"A black president?" Fred was stunned for a moment. He was completely shocked by Qin Shaoyan's remarks and asked subconsciously, "You said the Democratic Party will put forward a black person as the presidential candidate?"

"That's right, and we have seen this person before." Qin Shaoyan smiled slightly, "Do you remember?"

Fred then remembered that they had met the black congressman before, "The one from Illinois?"

"He will rewrite American history." Qin Shaoyan smiled and gestured, "Want to make a bet?"

Fred was shocked by the news. "Oh my God, if he is really elected, then everything he does will rewrite history."

"A black man is president, that's crazy."

Qin Shaoyan said calmly: "I don't care if you have racial discrimination or not, but from today on you have to learn to disguise yourself and make yourself a pioneer of equal rights."

"No, no, no, I'm not racist. I'm only IQ-discriminatory." Fred rubbed his forehead. "I'm just too surprised."

"So our previous investment was a little insufficient. You can increase it later when you have time." Qin Shaoyan reminded, "This will be your most successful investment, with a very high rate of return."

“Imagine how many friends you would gain if you used social media to push a black person to the presidency.”

Liu Yuanrui and Chen Yuanzong who were sitting next to them were stunned at this moment. The topic that President Qin talked about was too high-level and they couldn't get a word in at all.

He could understand Qin Shaoyan speaking Mandarin, but he couldn't understand Fred speaking English. Edward was not a full-time translator, he just made a guest appearance occasionally.

But he understood the matter of the black president, and he blurted out subconsciously with a look of shock on his face, "Black president?"

Qin Shaoyan glanced at him with a cold look, then continued chatting with Fred.

Liu Yuanrui, who was standing next to him, confronted Chen Yuanzong and whispered, "Shut up, don't make any noise."

Chen Yuanzong was a little embarrassed, but his heart was filled with excitement. He felt that Mr. Qin's style was in line with that of the richest man in the country.

This is what a superior person is.

Look at what people are talking about, the presidential election!

All American bills are treated as waste paper. They study how to find loopholes and disregard the law as if it means nothing.

Looking back at myself, I usually say that I am tough and don’t take breaking the law seriously, but I am actually still afraid inside.

Otherwise, he would not have teamed up with Liu Yuanrui and started to whitewash himself.

If you're really not afraid, then why bother listing any online games?

Fred thought for a moment. "How much is a suitable gift? Five million?"

"Five million US dollars is a bit too little, let's add a little more." Qin Shaoyan pondered for two seconds, "The key is to make a gesture during the election and create momentum on the Internet social platforms. No matter how much money it costs, the movement must be big and the voice must be even louder, so that everyone can see that you have contributed."

"As long as the Donald Trump Party wins, it will only be a matter of time before the anti-gambling bill introduced by the Republicans is repealed."

In fact, there have been efforts to kill this bill.

In June 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that federal law no longer prohibited online gambling within the states, and the gap has been widening since then.

In early 2013, Nevada became the first state in the United States to legalize online gambling, followed by Delaware and New Jersey.

Since online gambling can bring in a steady stream of tax revenue, states such as Mississippi, Iowa, and California have also introduced relevant bills.

Investment tycoons including Soros and Paulson, as well as some well-known private equity funds, have already made early arrangements for online gambling in order to compete for a piece of this "cake" that is expected to expand rapidly.

Fred nodded in agreement and said, "This Unlawful Online Gambling Enforcement Act also leaves room for maneuver. For example, online gambling and online horse racing are not among the prohibited items. This leaves a small door open."

“So there are a lot of ways we can get it done.”

As we all know, if you leave a small door, people will soon squeeze it open and make a big hole. America is also a magical land, full of vitality and everything is flourishing.

American lawyers specialize in studying how to find loopholes, so as long as there is a hole, no matter how small, they can find it for you.

“And this bill does not ban Texas Hold’em, which is the biggest business.” Qin Shaoyan said with a smile.

Fred laughed. "Yeah, we can start with Texas Hold'em."

"And I have made preparations in advance." Qin Shaoyan pointed to Chen Yuanzong who was sitting next to him, "Mr. Chen Yuanzong happens to have a professional chess and card game team."

When Chen Yuanzong heard his name, he was startled and stood up immediately, nodding to Qin Shaoyan and Fred with a smile.

Fred looked him over, said hello, stretched out his hand to shake his, and then began to ask some questions about the board game.

Although Chen Yuanzong is not a technical person, he has a deep understanding of his products and answered Fred's questions one by one.

These include product development cycle, online testing process, bug feedback mechanism, operational accident handling, etc.

Although many things were not standardized, he still figured out a lot of things through practice.

Fred nodded with satisfaction, then turned to Qin Shaoyan and asked, "It will take less time to make a Texas Hold'em game, right? What are your plans?"

"Just like Happy Farm, make it into a web game, so that users can get started more easily and it is very suitable for attracting traffic." Qin Shaoyan pondered for a moment, "Just release the English version, and don't do it in China. First, introduce it on a small scale for testing. After one to two months of testing, it can be officially promoted."

Fred also said excitedly: "If everything goes well, it can be done by the end of this year."

Qin Shaoyan smiled and said, "Don't charge any fees in the early stage. We will mainly look at the user feedback and make adjustments and improvements."

"Use game coins instead of chips, and players will get game coins regardless of whether they win or lose."

"Of course, players can get these game coins by recharging, and some of them can be given away in the early stage to attract people first."

Fred thought about it and asked, "How much can we earn if we only rely on players to top up? Will the players lose motivation?"

"We can come up with an alternative plan," Qin Shaoyan said. "Game coins cannot be exchanged for US dollars, but they can be exchanged for gifts in Facebook's gift store."

Fred's eyes lit up and he thought this was a good idea.

"If players don't want the gifts, they can sell them at a discount." Qin Shaoyan said as he thought, "Of course, the details still need to be improved. The general process is this."

"Yes, yes, yes, game points can be exchanged for gifts." Fred clapped his hands, "This is just a game."

Fred seemed to see a golden avenue unfolding before his eyes, and he couldn't wait to put the Texas Hold'em game online.

Texas Hold'em can be said to be a national game in the United States, with a status equivalent to China's Landlord.

In 1998, the first online poker platform in the United States, Poker Planet, was established. Despite the slow network connection and server lag at the time, Poker Planet still earned nearly $10 billion in revenue in one year. All this made the booming Internet practitioners jealous, and many online poker platforms were established.

The three most famous online poker platforms, Party Poker, PokerStars, and Paradise Poker, were all founded in 2001. Although everyone was still using dial-up Internet at that time, their gaming platforms were well-designed, connected smoothly, feature-rich, and provided a wide variety of special services.

For example, PokerStars is famous for their cooperation with WSOP. Chris Monkeymaker mentioned above won a WSOP ticket in an online competition on PokerStars.

In the three years after 2003, the number of online Texas Hold'em players in the United States increased rapidly. According to statistics, at its peak, there were more than 3 million players in the United States, accounting for nearly 5000/1 of the population, which means that one in every two adult men plays online. The number of players who only like to play offline with acquaintances is even more difficult to estimate.

In 2004, due to a ban by the US Department of Justice, Google and Yahoo stopped advertising on all online poker websites.

In the fall of that year, after ESPN in the United States broadcast the "World Series of Poker" in prime time for the first time, the ratings unexpectedly exceeded those of the NBA games. As a result, this classic card game was pushed to a boiling point and became unstoppable.

In the same year, online poker game revenue in the United States reached tens of billions of dollars. Poker rooms became an important source of revenue for casinos, and private gambling games were countless.

The Unlawful Online Gambling Enforcement Act did not officially affect online Texas Hold'em until 2011, which dealt a heavy blow to online gambling companies in the United States and even Europe. The act sparked huge controversy, with opponents arguing that since gambling is permitted by U.S. law, it is the people's freedom to gamble in any way.

All this has not hindered the popularity of poker. Today, there are still tens of millions of casual poker online players in the United States (not playing for real money), as well as an inestimable number of offline poker games and players. However, the total number of online game players has indeed entered a plateau.

Qin Shaoyan and Fred quickly reached a preliminary cooperation agreement and discussed the specific details later, but Fred couldn't wait to open the champagne.

After sending Fred away, Qin Shaoyan kept Chen Yuanzong and Liu Yuanrui.

"The cooperation has been finalized. It's not too late to withdraw now." Qin Shaoyan said calmly, "Let's be humble first and gentlemen later. Let's make things clear in advance to avoid unpleasantness later."

"I dare not." Chen Yuanzong said quickly, "I'm with Mr. Qin. I'll do whatever you say."

"Okay then." Qin Shaoyan continued, "The profits of the board game company and Facebook are split 20% and 80%."

"Eighty-twenty split?" Chen Yuanzong was stunned.

"It's probably someone else's." Qin Shaoyan glanced at Chen Yuanzong, "Why? Are you not satisfied? This is the rule in this industry. Many people want to kneel but don't have the chance to do so."

"No, no, no, it's very reasonable, very reasonable." Chen Yuanzong quickly said that he had no objection, and then asked tentatively: "Boss Qin, how much do you want?"

"I don't want it." Qin Shaoyan smiled faintly.

"Ah?" Chen Yuanzong was stunned. He didn't expect Qin Shaoyan to say this.

Qin Shaoyan was the one who introduced this matter, and then after the discussion he said he didn't want it. Could it be that he should be the only one to enjoy the 30% benefit?
"You don't want it to be inappropriate, right? How can I dare to take it if you don't want it?" Chen Yuanzong said immediately, "You must take 10% at least."

Qin Shaoyan said calmly, "I am a shareholder of Facebook. I own 80% of the company. I don't need you to show me your courtesy."

"But don't think that this 20% is easy to take. You have to pay when it's time to pay."

"I understand, I understand!" Chen Yuanzong nodded repeatedly.

Liu Yuanrui, who was standing next to him, was very excited but couldn't get a word in and just kept winking at Chen Yuanzong.

Chen Yuanzong pretended not to see it, chatted with Qin Shaoyan for a few words, and then tactfully left.

As soon as the two of them walked out of the door, Liu Yuanrui grabbed Chen Yuanzong's arm and said with a fake smile: "Boss Chen, don't forget me, your old brother, when you get rich."

Chen Yuanzong laughed, "Brother Liu, what you said, how could I forget you?"

"Tell me, what do you want to do?"

(End of this chapter)