By Michael Torrice
Playing games for money is a form of entertainment that can be found
everywhere. Casinos are popping up all around the country. Keno and
other quick gambling games are in almost every convenience store.
The Internet has also become a place for gambling. Sandbox.com is
one such site devoted to many types of online gambling and games.
From fantasy sports games to trivia games to non-gambling arcade-style
games, Sandbox has created a very entertaining site. Users can register
on the site so that they can keep track of their winnings. They can
then choose from the different categories of games and enter whatever
contests they want.
The most interesting features of Sandbox.com are the long-range games
that are offered. Fantasy sports games allow users to pick players
to reach certain statistics during a given season, or predict the
outcome of different playoffs, or even engage in a sports stock exchange
where users can buy stock in teams and players and then trade them
as the season goes on. Of course, these types of games are not new
in concept. Companies and groups of friends have always had sports
pools, but Sandbox now allows people to play with others from around
the country, which increases the challenge and the money that one
can win. These games also are accompanied with a web community where
users can discuss recent games and trades in the different sports
while they are playing the online games. In this way Sandbox is making
a sports enthusiasts' dream of a web site: a place to discuss their
favorite teams and players while at the same time betting on upcoming
games.
From a marketing prospective these long range games are also interesting
as a means of returning users to the site. Most of these games will
involve a user checking back onto a site several times a week to observe
their status. This repeated accessing of the site is a good way to
attract advertisers to Sandbox. Unfortunately, this repeated accessing
hasn't given Sandbox an incredible boost in revenue. They have had
to close certain aspects of their site in recent months. Despite what
seems to be an attractive set-up for advertisers, Sandbox still struggles
to offer most of its games for free. What Sandbox might benefit from
is a membership fee. For a small yearly price, users can access all
of the sweepstakes and games on the site. There are plenty of sports
enthusiasts who would be willing to pay some money up-front in order
to play a year's worth of sports games. All non-web based sports pools
always involve some small fee to enter and people are always willing
to play. Why couldn't such a system be implemented on the web?