Most gaming platforms make money by charging players — entry fees, in-app purchases, loot boxes, or subscriptions. Potly.Win works differently. Every game on the platform is completely free to play, and the prize pools are funded entirely by advertising revenue.
Here's how that actually works, step by step.
The Basic Model
When you play a game on Potly.Win, you see ads — a sidebar ad while you browse and an occasional interstitial after a game session. Those ads generate revenue from advertisers who pay to reach our audience. That revenue becomes the prize pool.
The split is straightforward: 80% of all ad revenue goes directly into the prize pool, and 20% covers platform costs — hosting, payment processing, development, and operations.
How Prizes Get Distributed
Prize pools run on monthly cycles, resetting on the 1st of each month at midnight UTC. Throughout the month, every ad impression adds to the pot. At the end of the month, the top 3 players on each game's leaderboard split the prize pool:
- 1st Place: 50% of the prize pool
- 2nd Place: 30% of the prize pool
- 3rd Place: 20% of the prize pool
Payouts go directly to your linked PayPal account. You can add your PayPal email in your account settings at any time.
Why 80/20?
We wanted the split to be aggressive in favor of players. An 80/20 ratio means the vast majority of what the platform earns goes right back to the people playing. The 20% platform fee covers real costs — server infrastructure, anti-cheat systems, payment processing fees, domain and email services, and ongoing game development.
For context, many contest platforms take 40–60% of entry fees as their cut. Since Potly.Win has no entry fees at all, the comparison isn't direct, but the intent is clear: players come first.
What Determines Prize Pool Size?
Two main factors drive how big the prize pool gets each month:
Total ad impressions — more players and more sessions mean more ads served, which means more revenue. Every time someone plays, the pot grows a little.
CPM rates — this is the amount advertisers pay per thousand impressions. CPMs vary by audience geography (U.S. and U.K. traffic pays more), time of year (Q4 holiday season is highest), and ad format (video ads pay significantly more than display ads).
The flywheel: More players → more ad impressions → bigger prize pools → more incentive to play → more players. Every game session directly increases the prize pool for that month.
No Entry Fee Means No Gambling
This model isn't just player-friendly — it's legally important. Because players never pay to enter, Potly.Win operates as a skill-based contest, not a gambling platform. There's no wager, no purchase necessary, and outcomes are determined entirely by player skill. This distinction matters under U.S. law and is fundamental to how the platform is built.
You can read more about this in our article on skill-based gaming vs. gambling.
Transparency Is the Point
We publish the current prize pool for every game in real time on the game page. You can always see exactly how much is up for grabs, where you stand on the leaderboard, and what the top players have scored. There's no hidden math and no surprise deductions.
The rules page at potly.win/rules lays out the full breakdown — the revenue split, prize distribution, payout schedule, and tie-breaking rules. It's all there because we think you deserve to know exactly how the system works before you compete in it.