I'd expect so.

It was only in the last year that Bitcoin was stabilizing in terms of the value. When I was mining in mid-2011 the Bitcoin value was bouncing around like crazy. I think this was because of the inconsistent balance of new-comers to mining so the supply and demand system was a bit messy to say the least.

I have more faith now as the miners that are making a real impact are consistent and treating it like a real business; a real mine. I didn't have the funding, nor the patience to go down this route so I left it to the pros. With steadily growing demand and a consistent supply there is no reason why Bitcoin can't double if not triple within the next year. It's up to the businesses to keep the currency in circulation.

I am currently developing a Bitcoin lottery site so I hope that the effort was worth it in the next 12 months.
*fingers crossed*

The wise words of Winston Churchill,
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."

Even the best of us get scammed when word hasn't got out yet. That's so much more true with Bitcoin. With no established authority to maintain a safe environment, it's only word of mouth that holds the power. So come to think of it... This forum is the closest thing to an authority figure.

• It's this forum (amongst others) that puts scammers in their place.
• It's this forum that has the respected members of the Bitcoin industry who have the power (and usually the will) to make sure that these scam "artists" get as little attention and respect as possible.
• It's also this forum that breeds scammers, which is an unfortunate truth.

So trust can be taken with as many grains of salt you wish. If there was an authority with the power to get these scammer sites and services shut down then the Bitcoin-world would be a better place but until then we just have to hold out until somebody gets done over by a scammer and speaks out (preferably on this forum because then I'll find out,  ).

Just putting my case across so hopefully it holds some merit. Like hearing about all your views so thought I might as well join in, hehe.

I would say it was all on how much you want to depend on third-party services. Using notify services and these newish banking services you can achieve most, if not all the payment systems you might require. This isn't to say that the service will be secure though.The more popular the third-party service, the more likely you are to be the victim of hackers and fraudsters.

It's a balancing game as to how much developing/scripting you wish to perform compared to the amount of "off-the-shelf" software you wish to use. Going either way creates it's own flaws and benefits... e.g. Using a notify service to monitor your received payments cuts down development time and effort but if the notify service shuts down (like BitcoinNotify in 2011), you have to find another way.

I'm only referring to website development as I haven't seen any software available using Bitcoin and I haven't yet delved into programming for Bitcoin. On the web-dev side; I have spent quite a bit of time scripting but it's all quite straight forward PHP etc. Even with the monitoring services you have to do a bit of scripting but nothing too hefty as the API tend to be really easy to use.

I'm not a fan of the automatic payout systems available at the moment. It might just be lack of trust but I haven't come across any "uber-secure" systems that provide an automated method for sending out payments. But I do use a bitcoin monitoring service to receive payments because I have a little more control over the security factor. All the monitoring services do is associate your account to your wallet addresses and then uses the public bitcoin block explorer to detect when your order has been processed.

I'm in amidst the development of an advanced payment system that both detects received payments and sends out payments automatically (for my lottery site (indev)). This will take me a while as it's not at the top of my list of things to do but I would like to be completely self-sufficient in terms the "how, whats and whens", it just takes time. The system source wouldn't be going public because it would open the door for flaws.

Anyway, back to the question... It's as hard as you want to make it. I've found effort and time spent tends to pay off in the long run compared to cash and faith.

Hope that helps.

Scamming comes and goes with currencies, as I hope with Bitcoin (going that is, not coming). It's the lack of regulation that scares most people because there's no further authority if you've been scammed.

If we're going to establish Bitcoin as a legitimate currency then we can either jump in and hope for the best or run away. I'd like to think that I've been sensible and used a little thing called common sense, and maybe it was just luck, but I've avoided being the victim of any scammer throughout the last two years or so of being involved in the Bitcoin industry and trade.

I have quite a bit of faith in Bitcoin, but I have no faith in the people who use the currency and give up at the first sign of trouble. This doesn't make the currency stronger or more likely to have the chance of sufficient regulation. It means the new economy is one more man down.

Long Live Bitcoin! 

Let the Riff-Raff in and the Riff-Raff multiplies... 'tis the way of the world. Better restrictions than many other forums online,  .

Hey guys.

I'm currently developing a Bitcoin lottery-style site (yes, another Bitcoin gambling site,  ).
It will be going live in a couple of weeks so I won't give too much away but here are a few of the "releasables"...

It's a Daily Lottery Draw - The lottery draw will run every 24 hours. You can buy up to 20 tickets per day and they cost 0.05BTC each.
When your payment has been confirmed 6 times you will be automatically entered into the current draw.

We're on a Roll - 90% of total ticket sales will go to the current draw winner, 5% rolls over to the next draw and the final 5% goes to the site pot so I can keep the site running and updated.

Man V Machine - The lottery draw system is semi-automatic. This is to account for security threats and flaws found in currently available systems. Most of the system is automatic apart from the winners payout system. This allows me to keep an eye on the whole system to detect bugs and other problems.

Adapt to Survive - As with any start-up business, I plan to add many more features and games to keep up to date and with any luck, into the limelight,  . For now I will be concentrating on any bugs that might appear. I also plan to incorporate a more transparent draw system (more draw statistics).

Hopefully everything will become clear when I get the site up and running but I am moving so it will be available when I'm able to perform the manual tasks (payouts etc.).

If you have any queries or suggestions, feel free to get in touch.
I'll get back to you guys when I can and I will keep you updated on when the date will be open to users.

Later guys,
Sy

Hello guys.

That link was real handy jamaer.
I'm currently in the process of developing a Bitcoin lottery-type site (release date within next month) and this is just what I was looking for to make sure I'm on the right track.

Great stuff.

Hello, Sy here,

Have been Bitcoin mining for a few months now.
I have also started to develop a bitcoin lottery website...

Do you think this would be a popular site?
I haven't found a 'real' bitcoin lottery draw online yet so I hope to fill a gap.

I'm spending most of my time making sure the site is secure for the general public although bitcoin transactions are monitored through the bitcoin network and a third party site, they are not processed internally which should put your mind at rest.

Further info to come... (when I'm not a 'newbie' anymore,  )

Later days...