Is this legal?

This guide is not legal advice. Availability and the rules that apply to you depend on where you live and change over time. You are responsible for complying with your local laws. If you’re unsure, don’t participate — and consult a lawyer.

Rivalizer is designed around a distinction that many jurisdictions draw between a private social wager between friends and commercial gambling.

The four pillars of a social wager

A friendly, social bet generally looks like this:

1. Everyone contributes equally. Both sides put up the same stake value — it’s an even-money wager, not a house offering asymmetric odds.
2. Nobody takes a rake. No cut is skimmed from the pot. The winner takes the entire pot.
3. The game is private. It happens among people who choose to take part — invited, not offered to the public at large.
4. The host doesn’t profit. Whoever set up the wager isn’t a counterparty who makes money from running it; they can only win as an equal participant.

Commercial gambling is essentially the inverse: a house sets asymmetric odds, takes the other side of your bet, and builds in a margin so it profits over time regardless of who’s right. Running a book like that for profit is heavily regulated — and, without a license, illegal in many places.

How Rivalizer maps to this

Rivalizer has two structures, and an operating mode that controls which one is available to you:

	Social mode	Commercial mode
Structure	Private, even-money wagers (winner takes the pot)	Fixed-odds contracts with an issuer as counterparty
Contributions	Equal on both sides	Asymmetric (odds-based)
Fee / rake	Zero	Protocol fee (on winnings only)
Visibility	Private / invite-only	Public contracts allowed
Host profit	None — host only wins as a participant	Issuer profits as the counterparty
Where it’s available	Regions where we’re not licensed	Regions where we are licensed

Where we aren’t licensed, the platform runs in Social mode. In Social mode the software enforces the four pillars: the fixed-odds house book is switched off, fees are set to zero, and regular users can only create and take private contracts they share with people they invite. Public, fixed-odds contracts unlock only in jurisdictions where Rivalizer holds the appropriate license.

“Put your money where your mouth is”

That’s the spirit of a social wager — backing your conviction against a friend, on equal terms, with the winner taking the pot. It is not an invitation to run a book for profit. If you want to be a commercial bookmaker, that requires a license, and it’s only available where we hold one.

What this means for you

• If public contracts and fixed-odds house betting aren’t available to you, that’s Social mode for your region — you can still set up private wagers and invite others.
• No rake is taken on social wagers; the winner takes the whole pot.
• Availability can change as Rivalizer becomes licensed in more places.

Again: this is not legal advice. Whether participating is lawful for you depends on your jurisdiction and your circumstances. When in doubt, seek professional advice before taking part.