I’m always open to an idea that can potentially make me money, and while I won’t be sending any more money to Nigeria any time soon (I only ever make the same mistake three times), I did get excited when I read a report on CNBC about making money from my favourite past time. CNBC, is of course the cable channel dedicated to all things business, finance and money related. These guys live and breathe money and know what they’re talking about. So when I see an article on the CNBC site titled How to Make Money Playing Videogames I sit up and take notice.

Turns out this isn’t about the elite players wearing garish t-shirts and bandannas, playing in big professional leagues for big money; the guys with unpronounceable gamer tags with more ‘z’s than vowels. In fact you don’t need to be the best of the best or even the best of the worst to be in with a chance to make money doing what you love. The article charts the emergence of companies that allow you to play family, friends or strangers online, matching you up with players as good or as hopeless as you and letting you win as little as $1 or thousands of dollars in the process.

Now rather than talking smack and verbally taunting your opponents you can put your money where your mouth is. Quite literally in fact, because it is actually your own money. Yes…there’s the catch. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or in this case a free prize purse. The prize purse is actually put up by yourself and your sucker, I mean, your opponent.

So how exactly does it work? CNBC reports on two of the big companies on the scene, World Gaming and BringIt. Registration is free. You can either play against a friend (clearly not a good friend if you’re trying to take him for all he’s worth), or can be matched with an opponent for free. Your wager isn’t called a wager, but rather an entry fee. Both sites it seems are keen to distance themselves from ‘gambling’ sites. For their trouble, World Gaming and BringIt take a ten percent commission.

“What we offer is the opportunity, every day, to monetize your skills from your home,” says Billy Levin, president of WorldGaming.

Both companies offer competitions over Microsoft’s Xbox360, Sony’s PS3 and PS2 and the Nintendo Wii, and support a number of popular multiplayer titles such as Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Madden NFL. World Gaming has been in operation since April and in the space of three months, more than US$151,000 has changed hands.
According to the article the biggest wager to date was a 6 round match with $500 placed on each round. Says Levin, the winner walked away $1000 richer. With a ten percent commission, World Gaming didn’t fare to badly either, walking away from the table $600 richer.

World Gaming customers don’t seem to mind, with membership growing by a healthy two percent every day. World Gaming and BringIt are keen to emphasise that video games are based on skill and not chance. BringIt’s website FAQ states "The games that are being played for cash prizes on BringIt are considered "Games of Skill" and not games of chance, and are allowed by the law."

The sites do share one unfortunate feature of on-line gambling sites however. Getting your money back isn’t quite as quick and easy as getting it in, although to be fair, the same criticism could and often is levelled at most of Australia’s financial institutions. There are some off-shore gambling casinos that love to take your money but (on the off chance that you’re lucky enough to come out ahead) are a little slow off the mark to give it back. Some so slow that the only way you’ll get your money back is to fly to the Bahamas with a law enforcement official in tow.
World Gaming and BringIt, it must be said, aren’t that slow, but they’re not going to winning any prizes any time soon for speedy internal processes. Nor is it cheap to get your money back. There is a US$4 withdrawal fee for each electronic or paper check withdrawal from your account, and you can expect to wait 10-14 business days. Really…for an electronic payment? To be fair, BringIt has an ‘express withdrawal’ option, which will send your money in two to three days, but you’ll pay a further US$10 for the privilege.

CNBC reports that both sites were inspired by the founders’ college habits. They noticed their peers were all very interested in playing videogames for money gaming for money and believed they could make a viable business out of it.
So are these sites for you? On the one hand there are only so many times you can fleece your little brother or sister out of their hard earned pocket money. There comes a time when they wise up and realise that they are never going to beat you in Halo 3 Multiplayer. And even if you’re lucky enough to have a sibling a little slow on the uptake, they presumably only have so much money (unless your surname is Hilton or Rockefeller – in which case keep on gaming). At the end of the day there is only so much satisfaction to be had from robbing family and friends. Fleecing perfect strangers doesn’t quite leave the same bad taste in your mouth.

According to the founders of the two sites, their systems are wired into the gaming servers in question and as a result all results are 100 percent verifiable. Add to that a robust and transparent dispute resolution process and a ranking system that aims to give a little more certainty that you’ll be lining up against someone as awesome or as schmucky as yourself. With the average bet around the US$10 mark, you won’t be risking the shirt off the back, if you wanted to wade in and test the waters, an assurance echoed by Levin.

"We don’t want people coming and dumping their paycheck into this. That’s not the purpose of this site.”