High Roller Hippo Clique: Why it Can Top the Gambling NFT Niche (The Mafia Report)
INTRODUCTION
Gambling projects have been the pinnacle of Solana NFT trends for the past two months or so. Ever since the rise of Degen Coin Flip, the Solana NFT ecosystem has seen a positive influx in the amount of gambling NFT collections released. The High Roller Hippo Clique (HRHC) is one of the first fully encompassing gambling-based NFT collections that also incorporates features seen in other PFP collections. A jack of all trades of sorts, HRHC paves the way for gambling projects, showing that they can be more than simply a royalty-sharing smart contract that many of these newer projects appear to be.
STRUCTURE AND STRATEGY
First and foremost, the HRHC is a DAO in which community members have a say in the direction of the project. The HRHC has a unique structure compared to many other projects, utilizing a hierarchy of roles that come with respective benefits. There are about 10 Casino Operators, the OGs of the project that get initial say on proposals and plans for the future of HRHC. The next level down is the Pit Bosses, 77 members that had access to pre-sale and receive plans after the OGs, who received their roles via invites from the Casino Operators (more than 77 were onboarded based on community vote). Lastly, there are 777 High Rollers, which are essentially whitelisted members that received early access to casino games.
The emphasis on a community-driven project is much more apparent than many other projects, as plans and proposals were being run by Casino Ops and Pit Bosses well before mint began. For example, there was an initial skewed royalty distribution based on the role each member had, respective to its place in the hierarchy. This was later voted out. The strategy behind this is intriguing, as it indirectly onboarded a series of experienced advisors, being that many of the Casino Op roles were handed to veterans in the space (such as Tom Solport for example). The reach they were able to gain because of this allowed them to get in contact with licensed international online gambling operators, further bringing credibility to the project. The first game betas for roulette and coin flip launched before mint, proving that they had the skills to build and create something here to stay in the Solana ecosystem.
UTILITY
The main utility, like other gambling projects, is the fact that royalties and profits from the casino are distributed among holders. 25% go to the team, and 75% go to the DAO to be distributed. Of the 75% delegated to the DAO, 10% stays in the DAO fund, 50% is distributed among holders, and Casino Ops, Pit Bosses, and High Rollers each get their own 5%. Considering mint ended with 4321 supply, and a percentage of funds are being used to buy back and burn NFTs off the floor, the revenue earned per Hippo will increase as time goes on.
Another focus of the DAO is to pick up blue-chip NFTs and fractionalize their ownership among community members. Just a couple days after mint, the DAO bought an SMB and a Thugbird. HRHC also has a strategic partnership with ParlayNFT, a project that is building a fully compliant live casino in the ecosystem (to be completed in February). The DAO will receive 50% revenue share funneled through their site by HRHC holders and referral links (and later PVP games), giving them another source of passive income. Parlay’s platform has yet to be released as of the time of this article’s writing. As of mid-January, the Hippo team has released four games: roulette, coin flip, Plinko, and slots. Future plans include arcade games, blackjack, and other player-vs-player gambling games.
SIGNIFICANCE: WHAT OTHER PROJECTS AND BUYERS CAN GAIN FROM THEIR SUCCESS
The HRHC sets the standard for gambling projects. With seemingly half of all new gambling projects releasing turning up to be rugs or soulless copies, HRHC gives the full blue-chip PFP/DAO experience while giving holders an entire stream of passive income through the casino. They are simply doing more than most projects, and faster.
One huge takeaway from HRHC’s example is their ability to leverage momentum. Everyone knows that the Solana ecosystem moves at lightning speed, and maintaining momentum is of huge importance considering the minuscule attention span of the average Solana NFT trader. The team has released over one game per week on average since launch, and blackjack is to be added within a week’s time of the publishing of this article.
The consistent rollout of features has kept the community excited and active in the discord channels, which is arguably as important as the utility of the project itself. Merging strong utility and identity is the most solid combination a project can offer. The value gambling NFTs bring to the space is obvious, but not enough gambling collections are giving their brand a cute face and a funny saying (R◎LL R◎LL) to give their members a sense of cultship. HRHC has also done a fantastic job at giving their community things to look forward to via regular updates and plans, constantly giving them a look behind the scenes. Few projects can match their level of transparency. The aforementioned qualities are the core of what has separated HRHC from the sea of other gambling projects, and other aspiring projects should take from their example to replicate that type of success.
CLOSING COMMENTS
To date, as of 1/18/22, each holder has received 0.39 Sol per Hippo held, which is a substantial amount considering payouts began on 1/4/22, only two weeks prior. With the release of more games, this is only to increase as there will be more options to appeal to a broader range of people. Blackjack is just a few days from being released, which we at Mask Mafia see as a cornerstone for HRHC.
Statistically, card games are easier to be consistently profitable on compared to slots and other RNG-based games such as the ones currently in place and are generally more appealing because people feel more responsible for their wins. We predict this will increase the volume going through the casino website for an extended period of time, and thus will prove to be more profitable for holders than previous games. This effect will only increase as PVP games such as Texas Hold-em are introduced on Parlay’s platform, so we only see the income gained per Hippo increasing in the long run as more complex games are added.
TIME-SENSITIVE OPINION
The floor has risen from a steady 4 Sol to a respectable 6 Sol following the news of blackjack being released. Despite this, we think buying before the release of blackjack is still a smart move, due to the reasons mentioned above (if you were already considering a purchase). Few are willing to sell, as only 101/4321 are listed on Magic Eden as of the release of this article. There have also been temporary (but significant) pumps in casino revenue on launches of new games, as seen on their dashboard. The shift in the style of games releasing from here on out could likely prove more beneficial to holders than the previous four games that are currently live, and the floor could easily find long-term support above the current price solely based on the increase of income. There is always a chance of ‘buy the news sell the hype’, always do your own research.
Nothing mentioned in this article is a suggestion to buy or sell any asset. NFA.
HRHC Twitter: https://twitter.com/HighRollerHC
Mask Mafia Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaskMafiaNFT
HRHC site: https://hrhc.io/
Mask Mafia site: https://www.themaskmafia.com/
Mint Jan. 26th, check our Medium page and Twitter for more articles and analyses.
