Gambling News - May 2005 Edition

"Online Sports Trivia Game Has a Local Link"

Think you know it all? See if you can win a prize playing TriviaShootout!

Sports fans, claims Bruce Kallenberg of Aspen, Colorado, also tend to be gamblers and with this in mind he has partnered with ESPN.com to produce TriviaShootout, a brand new online trivia game which offers cash prizes of up to $5,000. According to the man behind the game, it is the first of its kind and is specially tailored for sports fans.

The site offers several trivia contests: a “hot streak” game in which the winner must answer the most consecutive questions correctly; a game that ranks top-five performances during a 24-hour period and a speed game in which the winner correctly answers six questions in the least amount of time. TriviaShootout also offers three skill levels so that players don’t have to be experts to play and novice players need not fear playing against experts. All players start off as rookies and then major trivia buffs are separated into their own groups.

At the moment, the prizes offered range between $1.00 and $5,000, but this amount is linked to the number of players and is confidently expected to increase with time. The game debuted on ESPN’s site in December in spite of US federal law, which prohibits online gambling. Kallenberg claims that TriviaShootout, despite its cash payout, is predominantly a game of skill and therefore he is not infringing the gambling law.

There were a few problems in the initial setting up of the game, but Kallenberg is hopeful that this is behind them and expects to do well during his one year pilot deal with ESPN.

The makers of TriviaShootout are hoping to profit from the multi-billion dollar online gambling industry which is currently so popular. They are offering a free 30-day trial for the next month to encourage players to try out their site.

The game can be accessed at ESPN.com’s fantasy page.

Back to May News Home