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License or royalty of software for client in legal gambling venture.

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aggie.beep

New member
US - Illinois

I have a client who wants me to develop a software application that will be utilized in a legal gambling situation for a casino and in some bar room situations. It amounts to an application that effectively becomes the ping pong ball chooser in a lotto game. (it's not that, but best way to describe it)

The application doesn't take wagers or pay out winnings etc. It's simply an application that generates a random symbol used for people to fill out bingo-ish type cards.

I'd like to license the software or receive a royalty for each location the software ends up being used.

Should the client ever have issues with the legality of their gambling situation, does this present a problem for me?

For example, does the fact that I'd be getting a royalty or license fee per installation mean that I am also liable due to it being a gambling related application in usage and my income was derived from sales of that application to a venue?

Also, is there a better way I might approach this, rather than royalty/license that would avoid this kind of risk entirely?
 
Last edited:


PayrollHRGuy

Senior Member
If the software itself is illegal then any way you sell it would be problematic. Luckily it doesn't sound like it would be illegal what it sounds like is a random number generator. And every computer in the last 40 years had that ability.

That said what you should be MUCH more concerned with business liability insurance that will cover you if your random number generator isn't as random as you would have hoped.
 

aggie.beep

New member
This is LEGAL gambling situation, not illegal.

The issue isn't legality of the number generator, we are perfectly in line with legality.

The issue is more related to if the business has something happen where they post contract become out of line with legality - ie their license expires or some other event that I am not able to predict such as using the software in an illegal situation.

Does the income from a license or royalty make me in some way liable to their mishandling of the legalities of their gambling operation?

This is me trying to understand my liability if someone should misuse my software. Right now, it's a completely legal situation that it'd be used in. They have all the licensing and such in line.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Sorry, this forum is for US law matters only. You failed to tell us the name of your US state, so it can only be assumed that you are not in the US.
 

PayrollHRGuy

Senior Member
As I wrote before and could post because you were editing your original post...

If the software is legal then any way you sell it will NOT be problematic. Your much larger concern should be the liability. Let's say your software isn't as random as you think and someone figures out a pattern. The company you sell it to will sue you.
 

quincy

Senior Member
This is LEGAL gambling situation, not illegal.

The issue isn't legality of the number generator, we are perfectly in line with legality.

The issue is more related to if the business has something happen where they post contract become out of line with legality - ie their license expires or some other event that I am not able to predict such as using the software in an illegal situation.

Does the income from a license or royalty make me in some way liable to their mishandling of the legalities of their gambling operation?

This is me trying to understand my liability if someone should misuse my software. Right now, it's a completely legal situation that it'd be used in. They have all the licensing and such in line.
If the app you develop is intended to serve a legal purpose, the fact that someone decides to use the app in an illegal way ultimately should not be a problem for you (although initially it could lead to legal headaches).

I recommend you sit down with an IP attorney in your area to work out a licensing agreement, however. If someone exceeds the scope of the license or in some other way violates your rights in the app, you will be the one responsible for putting an end to the infringement.
 

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