F.A.Q.

Most people use Fairlay to place bets on sport events or horse races. The most popular sports are soccer, tennis, eSports and baseball. Further popular events are elections and politics bets in the News section. If you feel an important market is missing you also have the possiblity to create your own market instantly.

We have also introduced the option to create and manage your own LMSR Market Maker. Also available are Dice markets with a very low house margin and an exchange from BTC to four other major crypto currencies with 0% fees.

Fairlay doesn't require any personal information or any verification for depositing or withdrawing crypto currencies. We only do KYC according to our Terms and Conditions in very rare cases, where we ban certain customers who violated our Terms and Conditions or are suspected to have committed a crime.

The base commission is displayed on each respective market page. More information about our fees and reductions for heavy users can be found on our fee page. Usually 50% of all generated commissions go to the creator of the market.

The minimum withdrawal amount is 1mBTC and the fees can be found on the withdrawal page.

Deposits are free of charge.

SegWit is a new address format introduced in August 2017 with slightly lower fees. For you there is nothing to worry about. You can deposit Bitcoin to both addresses (legacy and SegWit) regardless from which address you are sending from. We recommend the SegWit address for all deposits below 500mBTC.

From June 2018 onwards inactive accounts (no login in the last 24 months and no active order) pay a monthly maintenance fee of 1mBTC.

- The BTC settlement will be based on the BLX index (https://bravenewcoin.com/markets/) in case there’s any issue such as down time or market manipulation we reserve the right to use the XBX index (https://tradeblock.com/markets/index/) for settling the markets.

- Altcoins settlement will be based on the corresponding Poloniex prices, in case there’s any issue such as down time or market manipulation we reserve the right to use the XBL index (https://bravenewcoin.com/markets/) for settling the markets.

- If both BTC indexes are not available or were manipulated, we reserve the right to calculate our own index. In that case we’ll take the average excluding the highest and lowest price of the following exchanges: BTC-e, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, itBit, OKcoinUSD, Coinbase.

Our cold storage address is 1EV8YeieYEZ7iksGT9jS7KdcbE12pk4FwZ.

The sum of all issued credit to our customers will always be less than the amount of Bitcoins in that address.

At Fairlay we provide mathematical proof that we hold over 100% of all customer funds in cold storage. To verify this you need the following:

- Our .NET client (https://github.com/Fairlay/FairlayDotNetClient)

- Your exact total balance in mBTC

- The balance of our cold storage address in mBTC (at time of writing 1274000)

- The current top hash from https://twitter.com/FairlayPReserve (renewed every 30 minutes)

- Your API username

Now use the .NET client and call the following:

bool fundsVerified = await privateApi.VerifyProofOfReserves([your exact total balance], [your API ID], [current top hash], [cold storage balance]);

We use a modified version of Merkle Sum Trees to perform the proof. If the test passes you are guaranteed that your balance is included in the cold storage funds.

- the exchanges Poloniex, Bitfinex, Kraken and Bitstamp must have credited the new coin to all users who held unused Bitcoin on the exchange at the time of the fork
- there may not be any severe security incident with any wallet software recommended on the official site of the fork.
- the new coin must be listed for spot trading on at least 2 of the 4 exchanges mentioned above and have a market cap of more than 500000 Bitcoin

Fairlay will do these checks 6, 12 and 18 months after each fork and credit funds if the conditions are met. Fairlay might also support forks if not all of the conditions are met. Please ask us at least 48 hours before the fork. We recommend to withdraw all your funds prior to any Bitcoin fork.

The amount (stake + winnings) of the largest market settlement of the last 24 hours is not available for betting, transfer or withdraw.  This means that you can only withdraw your entire bankroll if 24 hours since your last settlement have passed. Only the largest settlement is considered, other settlements have no influence on your available funds.

This rule is intended to protect Fairlay from occasional missettlements, which are usually corrected within 24 hours. Exchange and Dice markets are exempted from this rule as missettlements do not happen in these categories.

The amount put on hold is designed in a way that no user can obtain a negative balance if any single market, that was settled in the last 24 hours, is resettled to a different outcome.

if you do not like this rule, there is an an option to opt out of this rule for an additional non-reducible commission of 0.1% on all market net-winnings. Once activated, the opt-out needs 24 hours to kick in.

We are constantly looking for new market makers and developers who offer additional markets and liquidity on Fairlay.

To get started you don't need to ask for permission, just visit our github profile https://github.com/Fairlay. You may create any market, set the category, competition, title and commission, who will receive the commission and who may settle the market.

Professional market makers and developers may contact [email protected] for any questions that may arise.

Please note that the low-level API documentation as well as the Python client are not updated that often and might not contain new requests / features. The latest requests and features can be found in our reference client https://github.com/Fairlay/FairlayDotNetClient.

Choose your odds and the amount of mBTC you want to wager and submit the prediction. Please note:

- Any manipulation of lines is strictly forbidden. All bets must be done in good faith.

- Bets placed on non-live markets after they started ("late matches") are subject to be voided. Knowingly betting on non-live markets after the corresponding event already started is regarded as fraudulent activity.

- Fairlay reserves the right to let a late match stand if Fairlay believes it's likely the taker of the bet knew that the market was already live. It's the duty of the taker to check if a market is already live, especially if the event is about to start or the orderbook looks different than usual.

Normal orders (Maker/Taker) are instantly matched when there is a counter bet waiting in the orderbook that matches the odds you're using for your prediction. If there isn't enough volume to cover your stake the remaining amount stays open adding liquidity to the orderbook and waits for another bet that matches your odds in order to get fully placed.

Taker orders (Fill or Kill) only matches if there's a counter bet that matches your odds waiting in the orderbook, if there isn't enough volume or no orders have the the necessary odds the unmatched amount is automatically cancelled.

Lets say you place a prediction of 10,000 mBTC on a market with 2% commission and your odds are 2.5. Your winnings are 10,000 * 2,5 = 25,000 mBTC.

We directly subtract a fee of 2% from the net winnings. The net winnings are 15,000 mBTC. 15,000 * 2% = 300.

So you will be credited with 25,000 - 300 = 24,700 mBTC. Please note that we don't take this fee in the sport and fun category.

When a market is closed, predictions can no longer be placed. The resolution date is the date when the outcome of the market is determined.

But be careful: some predictions can already be determined even if the resolution date or the closing date is not yet reached. E.g., will a certain YouTube video have a number of views until a given date - so whatever you place a prediction on - make sure that there is a chance that it will happen.

If a bet is placed on a market where the outcome is already determined we will usually void all bets that were placed after the event that determined the outcome.

In case of any unresolvable dispute between a user and Fairlay, Fairlay will accept arbitration from independent, well known, trustworthy entities in the Bitcoin space to settle the issue. SBR is excluded from this list. Both parties have to agree to the arbitrator in advance. The arbitrator will also determine the party who has to pay the arbitration costs.

Fairlay reserves the right to freeze funds from any client who is suspected of any illegal activity or major misconduct. This includes line manipulation, match fixing, betting fraud and money laundering. In such a case Fairlay will also accept arbitration.

Unless different terms are stated in the market description, sport markets (excluding horse racing) are settled according to the settlement rules from Pinnacle (https://www.pinnacle.com/en/help/betting-rules). Please read these rules carefully before reporting a false settlement. Pinnacle also reserves the right to void markets if there is suspicious betting activity.

Most wrong settlements are automatically corrected within 20 hours after settlement. Some markets need manual review or manual settlement. Please wait 20 hours before contacting support in the public support channel.

Wrong settlements must be reported within 3 days from the date the bet in questions has been graded. Fairlay reserves the right to refuse to honor claims after this period.

Always include a link to the market when you report a wrong settlement.

If you place a bet in this type of market your stake will be split in two. For example, in a game between Real Madrid and Barcelona with spread of +1.75, if you place a bet of 100mBTC on Real Madrid you're actually placing 50mBTC on Real Madrid at spread +1.5 and 50mBTC on Real Madrid at spread +2.0.

Every time when a horse withdraws from a race and it's winning chances are greater than or equal to 2.5% a reduction factor is introduced, which is an estimate for the winning chances of the withdrawn horse. All odds of all bets that have been matched so far will be reduced by the reduction factor.

For more information please read the betting rules linked to in every market description.

All our markets can only be resolved to one winner. In the very rare case that there should be a shared first place amount several runners, we will void the whole market unless this case is handled in the description.

We use UTC aka GMT. To facilitate use we also display how much time is left until resolution - so you don't have to care too much about time zones.

In case of a chain split, we will make an announcement about it before the split happens. Fairlay will make both versions of Bitcoin available for withdrawal in case of the SegWit2X hard fork.

If there is a market about price predictions of Bitcoin, the sum of both hard forks is taken into consideration for the settlement as long as the market was created before the split and there is nothing else announced in the market description.

We usually only try to have markets, that have all possible winners listed. If necessary, it has to have a runner called "Other".
If you find any markets that's not "complete" , i.e. missing certain cases or runners, please forward it to our moderators and they will close it to not allow further betting.

From a technical point, our moderators are only able to select either a winner or make the market void in general. The option to set all runners to lost is not provided.

Markets are created by lots of different users and sometimes are no accurately describing every possible case. We do our best to grade these markets according to our best knowledge even if runners or special cases are missing. If one of the provided runners wins, we settle to this runner. If a runner wins that is not listed and the case is also not listed in the description, it will be settled to void.

No - you always place predictions against other users. So every prediction must find a counterpart. If no one is willing to take the other side, you will get your stake back without any deductions.

The turnover is based on the matched amount. Its calculation depends on the odds chosen.

Odds > 2

If you choose odds > 2, the turnover is the amount you placed.

Example: ON

Placing a prediction ON the outcome with an amount of 10 mBTC at 3.0 odds.
Turnover == amount placed == 10 mBTC

Odds <= 2

When the odds are <= 2.0, the turnover is the minimum possible profit.

Example: ON

Placing a prediction ON the outcome with an amount of 10 mBTC at 1.5 odds.
Turnover == Profit == amount_placed * (odds - 1) == 10 * (1.5 - 1) == 5 mBTC

Same goes for AGAINST bets, the only difference is that the odds are converted before we decide if we should take the profit or the amount placed.

A future market (also known as CFD or Contract For Difference) is an agreement between two peers where both exchange the difference in value of a financial product between where a trade is entered and exited. It’s a tradable instrument that mirrors the movements of any underlying asset.

This kind of prediction market creates a derivative in which you can speculate on a future price of any given asset, such as BTC, USD, China GDP, S&P 500 YoY growth, Nintendo earnings per share, etc.

The settlement is determined by the price at the resolution date taking the source from the description and following our index policy settlement.

The contract settlement is distributed pro-rata in mBTC to the participants of each trade.

The holder of a short position on any future market gets the following winnings on settlement:
orderAmount * (orderPrice - settlementResult)

The holder of a short position on any inverse future market gets the following winnings on settlement:
orderAmount * (orderPrice / settlementResult - 1)

Example of an Inverse Future Market:

User Alice wants to sell 5 mBTC at a price of 1000 BTC/USD on an BTC/USD inverse CFD market (in theory Alice now owns 5 USD and 0 mBTC).

Assume that the market settles to 400 BTC/USD (in theory Alice now uses all her 5 USD to buy BTC back at a price of 400 BTC/USD - she therefore gets 12.5 mBTC).

She leaves with a winning of 7.5 mBTC. This is what is simulated with the settlement formula: winnings = 5 mBTC * (1000 / 400 - 1) = 7.5 mBTC

As soon as the underlying settlement index of any future market is outside the market boundaries for more than 5 consecutive minutes, the market will settle to the corresponding boundary.

If any settlement index of any future or inverse future market is manipulated at the resolution time, the resolution time may be moved. In that case a random time in a time frame of 6 hours starting at resolution time will be used.

Any user can place as much open orders as he pleases. Before any orders are matched we will always do a check if both users have enough available balance. If one user does not have the required funds, he has to pay a penalty of 0.1mBTC and his bet will be automatically cancelled and not matched. All users are required to make sure that they can have a sufficient high available balance all the time in order to avoid the penalty.

Bettors have to decide for themselves if they trust the settlers.
In general account IDs below 1,000,000 can only be obtained with full verification and extensive vetting. Account IDs above 1,000,000 can be obtained by anyone.

Recommended and default settler accounts are the following:

1 - admin
777889 - Support (Ognjen)
XXXXXX - market creator

Any other configuration is allowed as well. Market makers have to keep in mind that the website www.fairlay.com might deprioritize markets in search and listing that do not list at least one settler with an Account ID below 1,000,000.

- For general help, market related issues and suggestions how to improve the site please use the trollbox on the website.

- For deposits and non priority withdrawals and any problem with altcoin payments you can directly write to [email protected]. Please send the transaction ID when using this email.

- For Legacy deposits/priority withdrawals and all other account related requests that are not handled in the trollbox write to the paid service under [email protected]. Please note that by contacting us through this email you agree that a fee up to 5mBTC might be deducted for each ticket. We reserve the right to charge 1mBTC for each 6 minutes spent on your ticket (maximum 30 minutes).

- Use [email protected] to contact our head of support directly.

- VIPs may contact [email protected] support free of charge at any time and receive support directly from the Fairlay management. All VIPs have been contacted and were addressed as VIP.

In case of an emergency or if you need an immediate response, please send at least 5mBTC to the Bitcoin address 17zWbgemRwx4RyrXxSBZEEnvRJLt3zt1ft and direct your request to [email protected]. There is no need for a high fee, unconfirmed transactions work as well. If none will answer you within 60 minutes, we will send the bitcoins back to the sender address.

You need to make sure that your balance is below 100mBTC. Than use the lost password option that is available when your are logged out. If you account should have more than 100mBTC, please contact [email protected] (requires a 5mBTC fee) to request a manual cashout to an address you have used before.

Please contact us via the Support tab on the trollbox. If it is a really urgent and crucial matter, you can also automatically stop all withdrawals.

Whenever the address 12X1heme8xzacuySQnKbMKH2kQrFb97G5J has a balance of 10 mBTC or more no withdrawals for any user on Fairlay will be processed. Any deposit to that address will be returned to one of the sender's addresses.

1st) We can put a special security flag on your account. This cannot be undone and would mean:

- that you can not add any additional withdrawal addresses via our website
- that you cannot make any transfers to other users
- that you cannot put maker bets on the market
- that you can only match bets with our trusted market makers
- place no more than 5 bets on any market within a 72 hour period

2nd) You can place bets, manage your account and make withdrawals via our API. This means that everything you do must be signed by your private key. Additionally we can permanently set your native Fairlay account to read-only.

This would mean that you can no longer place bets, make withdrawals or payments or create new API accounts via our website.

Please contact us for any help you may need.

For privacy and security reasons, new deposit addresses are not generated on our webserver. There is a very easy workaround if you still like to use one: create a new instant account and deposit funds there. As soon as the deposit is credited, you can send a payment to your old account!

After your deposit is included in a block we still need up to 5 minutes to make sure, that the block is not orphaned.

Also note, that your balance does not update if you do not browse the site. You can force an update of your balance anytime if you place a small (open) order on any market.

If you are sure that a deposit is missing despite having more than 3 confirmations, please contact [email protected] and provide a link to the missing transaction on a block explorer.

Please note by contacting us through this email you agree that we will deduct a fee of up to 5mBTC per ticket from your account if we should not be responsible for the problem.

To get started you need to register your Social Media account in the Developer section. Consider setting a daily spending limit. If you like to tip someone on reddit, you can do so by replying to his post and paging the user /u/fairlaytip. You can tip in all supported currencies.

Examples:

/u/fairlaytip have some Litecoin. 0.1 LTC
/u/fairlaytip Dash has very low fees. Try it out 1 mDASH
/u/fairlaytip 300 bits for you.

On twitter you need to reply to the receiver and to @FairlayTip

@FairlayTip 1mDASH @realdonaldtrump It's awesome!
@FairlayTip 2 mBCH @adam3us
Here are 300 bits @emo_jamie_dimon via @FairlayTip

All withdrawals up to 5 BTC within a 24 hour period are usually instant. In times of very high demand it can take up to 24 hours.

For larger withdrawals please try to use an address you have used many times before to speed up the process. Larger withdrawals are usually processed within 24 hours but may take up to 72 hours in rare circumstances.

We recommend that you always withdraw to an address you control. If you receive an unconfirmed transaction you can use the Child pays for Parent (CPFP) method to get it confirmed faster. Just spend the unconfirmed output again with a higher fee and all transactions should get confirmed quickly.

If your country or city is not allowed, please note that we do not accept customers and block IPs from the following regions: USA, Costa Rica, Iran, North Korea.

Please note that after August 4th 2018 we do not accept any predictions on binary markets placed through the website originating from any IP within the UK. If you'd like to bet on binary markets through our site, please access Fairlay from outside the UK.

Please contact [email protected] for any questions you may have.

For very large deposits the procedure is as follows:
1. Write an email to [email protected] notifying us about a large deposit.
2. Deposit the BTC directly into our Cold Storage Address: 1EV8YeieYEZ7iksGT9jS7KdcbE12pk4FwZ
3. If your case is urgent, please trigger the emergency support as described in https://fairlay.com/faq/#how-to-get-in-touch

We recommend to split up deposits of 12 - 24 BTC into two parts and only deposit the 2nd part after the first one was successfully credited.