Announcement
How pledges stay halal
Players can now pledge coins on their own duels. Coins are earned, never bought, skill decides every result and a tie returns the pledge. Here is why that is not gambling, and how the rules are written.
Duels in Arena now have pledges. Before a running duel is scored, a player can put 10, 25 or 50 coins on their own result. We built this carefully, because we want competition with real stakes and nothing that looks like a bet.
The rules
- Coins only. Coins are earned on the ladder and in the arena. They are never sold, never bought, never converted to or from cash, and have no value outside the app.
- On yourself only. You can pledge only on your own duel, once per duel, while it is running, never more than 50 coins and never more than you hold. There is no betting on other people.
- Skill decides. The duel's score settles the pledge, and nothing else: no odds, no house, no random draw.
- Win, lose or tie. Win and the pledge comes back plus the same again. Lose and it is gone. A tie returns it. The duel's normal points are paid either way.
- No judge, no result. The offline demo judge does not measure skill, so under it every pledge is returned untouched until the live judge is on.
In Kyrgyz the feature is called Кепилдик, in Russian Залог. An automated test fails the build if betting words appear anywhere in the app.
Why this is not gambling
Gambling needs three things together: a prize, a stake paid in money, and chance. Arena removes two by design. There is no money in, because coins cannot be bought and entry to every challenge is free. There is no chance, because every result comes from a skill judge, a duel score or a rating.
The law we designed around
Kyrgyz Law on Lotteries No. 78 of 10 May 2017 defines a lottery win as a matter of chance alone, so a skill contest is not a lottery. But Article 5(8) lets the regulator reclassify any promotional event that has "lottery elements". Article 1(17) restricts lottery participants to adults, and Article 20(1) punishes an unpermitted promotional lottery with confiscation of all proceeds and criminal liability.
So Arena keeps chance away from anything of value: no random drops, no lucky draws, no loot boxes, no spins, no raffles, no mystery prizes. Cash entry is switched off in the code. Sponsor cash prizes, when they come, go to adults only, through a Kyrgyz legal entity that withholds the 10% tax.
One more rule is written into the app itself: if coins ever become purchasable, pledges are switched off first.