How to Set Up a Bitcoin Lottery Platform

Setting up a Bitcoin lottery involves technical, legal, and operational considerations. Here's what you need to know.

Infrastructure Requirements

1. Lightning Node or Service

Options:

• Self-hosted node: Full control, more technical
• Hosted service: Blink, Voltage, etc. - easier management
• Consider: Uptime, liquidity, fee management

2. Web Hosting

• Reliable hosting with good uptime
• SSL certificates (HTTPS required)
• Database storage
• Background job processing

3. Blockchain Data Access

• APIs for block height and hash data
• Multiple sources for redundancy
• Consider rate limits

Development Steps

1. Design the rules: Entry cost, draw frequency, prize tiers
2. Build payment flow: Invoice generation, confirmation handling
3. Implement provably fair: Block hash derivation, public documentation
4. Create user interface: Number selection, status display
5. Build payout system: Automated Lightning payments
6. Add transparency: Public statistics, draw history
7. Test extensively: Payment flows, edge cases

Legal Considerations

Critical: Consult a lawyer before launching. Consider:

• Jurisdiction of operation
• Licensing requirements
• Terms of service
• Age verification requirements
• Tax obligations

Operational Considerations

• Liquidity: Ensure sufficient Bitcoin for payouts
• Monitoring: 24/7 system monitoring
• Support: How will users get help?
• Transparency: Public communication about operations

Launch Checklist

• Provably fair system documented and verifiable
• Payment flow tested end-to-end
• Automatic payouts working
• Statistics page live
• Terms of service published
• Security audit completed
• Monitoring and alerting configured
• Sufficient liquidity funded

Learn from Existing Platforms

Study how established platforms like Daily Thunder operate - their public transparency makes understanding best practices easier.