MUMBAI: Criccontest.com, a live cricket gaming portal, has been launched by Reasonable Advertising Pvt Ltd (RAPL) Television. The portal allows one to bet with points and win prizes. There is no money involved.

The live gaming section of the portal will officially launch from the second Test between India and Sri Lanka. A trial run is on currently. The promoters of RAPL -- Ashok Wadhwa and Anoop Wadhwa--claim that since the portal was launched in May it has a registered user base of 50,000. It also claims to have monthly page views of five million and 250,000 unique visitors.

One gets 10,000 points after registering for the first time. Bids are displayed for each team playing in the match. The bids change drastically after each over. The minimum bid on a team is 500 while the maximum is 5000. Score with every win, loss and balance are available in the ‘My Account‘ section. The top 50 performers get a Kashmir willow bat after the end of a match. The winners will also have their photos put up on the homepage. There is also a trivia section that changes every five overs. The site will have five daily contests, two weekly contests and animated contests.

These are linked to the state of the match. Anoop Wadhwa says, “The revenue model for the site will be advertising. We have approached clients and a number of them have expressed interest. We expect to breakeven in the first quarter. The Internet will be a major part of RAPL’s strategy going forward. Our aim is to launch a total of 12 portals over the next year.

"This will include portals devoted to other sports like soccer. On criccontest.com, fans can have a rollicking time with their favourite sport. While RAPL started as a television marketing company, we are now expanding and this is an attempt in that direction. Our expectation is that during each live match day we will get 100,000-200.000 visitors.”

He adds that the real potential of this site will come when T20 matches happen. That is because fortunes fluctuate in each over. The site also has a coaching segment with animated displays. It also has a unique ratings system devised in conjunction with well-known cricket statistician Mohandas Menon. To add to the user experience the site also has a daily two-and-a-half minute animated soap called Gloves and Pads.

Eight episodes air over two weeks after which a new story starts. Wadhwa says that the humour is whacky. The TG of the site is the 18-34 age group. One of the aims of the show is to show users that the net can be used for more than just email, chat and exchanging information he says. The site also has a virtual mascot who is a cheer girl called Bubbles.