Joystiq

Tournament.com is looking for a few good beta testers and giving the participants $1 credit for every match they complete before the official launch later this spring. Tournament.com is looking to become a skill-based tournament environment where players compete for real money. Co-founder Marcus Pearcey says, "Much like golfers or chess players can compete against each other in tournaments, Tournament.com users can prove their skills and make some cash in secure, fair, competitive matches that reward winners with more than just bragging rights." Tournament.com has received the rights to use Valve games Counter Strike and Half-Life 2 for the beta, they plan to announce more titles after the beta.

Of course, this sounds just a tad bit like gambling, but Tournament.com insists this is skill-based competition. There is a list of locations that believe this is gambling and won't allow you to play. Competitors are only allowed to place $150 USD into their account every month to wager $1 to $10 on their competitions -- you must also be 18 or older to participate. The beta testers who receive the $1 credit per round need to use up their credit value before they can cash out. For gamers into competition, the stakes just got real. The $150 cap prevents us from saying that this is just begging for intervention. Tournament.com doesn't sound any different than bars that hold gaming competitions with buy-ins. Just make sure to check that the software is legal to download in your location before you go trying to pwn n00bs for cash.