Should you invest in Wagerr? - ICO City #3

Welcome to ICO City, where I try to give you a quick rundown and rating of the next upcoming ICO and the idea behind it.
For anyone not "in the know", ICO stands for "initial coin offering" and is a way of crowdfunding Alts and solving the problem of intitial coin distribution.
The devs sell coins (basically shares) of their project to fund it, and the backers invest their hard earned crypto either b/c they believe in the project's future or b/c they're trying to flip their shares as soon as the coin hits exchanges to (hopefully) make a quick buck.

In this third installment of ICO City we will talk about Wagerr.

Before we start, a short disclaimer: I'm merely a trainee in the financial sector NOT a financial advisor, so take everything you read here w/ a grain of salt and do your own research before investing. That said, even if I WERE an actual financial advisor you should still do your own research.

A. What is Wagerr?

Wagerr is a self-proclaimed "revolutionary betting blockchain". It uses ASSCs (application specific smartcontracts) and oracle masternodes that update game results (an oracle tells the blockchain facts about the world we live in) and execute the smart contracts. The token is called WGR and will have an initial worth of 0.05 $.
The ICO starts on the 1st of June and ends on the 25th of June w/ a total of 85.000.000 coins on offer (initial worth of 4.250.000$).
Wagerr will offer Head-to-Head Betting, Multi-User Betting, Direct on Chain Betting, and Fantasy Betting but only if certain coin thresholds during the ICO are met.

B. Why Wagerr?

Wagerr claims to be the future of betting, offering lower fees (compared to the traditional sports betting industry) and a decentralized and self regulated network that eliminates the risk of corruption and manipulation.
Yet all of those features are inherent in the nature of the blockchain and nothing really new by now. What does Wagerr bring to the table, that distinguishes it from other betting blockchains?
One member of the team was kind enough to provide this graphic, comparing Wagerr's features to those of its competitors.

Judging from what I've read and seen on the site, the main selling point of Wagerr seems to be its deflationary model; here is how it works:
For every bet made on Wagerr a low amount of fees is paid by the user and Wagerr subsequently burns 48% of the fee. Thus, the more people bet, the more coins get burned. Fewer coins on one hand and more demand on the other - the value of a single coin rises. Assuming that people tend to bet the same amount in their local fiat currency (at least the wagerr staff makes that assumption), fewer WGR coins are bet in subsequent bets, which in turn slows coin burning and thus slows down deflation.
The same process, however, can also speed up deflation - when fewer people bet, less coins are burned, making them cheaper. Cheaper coins means that the people still betting burn more coins by betting the same amount, decreasing the supply, in turn increasing deflation.
Hooray for self regulation!

Granted, this is a very clever system to store "real" value in the coin and a cool idea, but it all rides on the one assumption that "bettors tend to bet consistent amounts in their local fiat currency (e.g., USD or Euros)", which is possible but in no way a given. Unfortunately no source is provided to back this claim.
This system furthermore requires a fair amount of bets being placed in the first place - b/c no bets = no fees = no burned coins = no self regulation;

C. How is value created?

The way Wagerr creates value for its holders is the act of betting; it does so in three different ways. First of all, one can win money. This is in no way whatsoever a reliable way to gain cash, but a possibility. Secondly, the act of burning almost half of each and every betting fee gives the WGR tokens added value and the deflationary nature of the system should increase value slowly but surely over time (given that everything works as intended). Thirdly, the other half of the fee goes to the oracle masternode performing the bookkeeping services. This way oracle investors do basically the same thing as regular bookkeepers and earn a cut of the fee as compensation.

D. What info does the Whitepaper provide?

Usually a very important and decisive factor when pondering wether to invest in an ICO or not is the state of the whitepaper and the info it provides. Unfortunately the whitepaper has not been released yet and will supposedly be a available on the first day of the ICO. The reason for this is, according to a team member, that they are trying to create a feeling of FOMO among the interested and to seem more interesting to potential investors. I'm not sure how I feel about this decision. To be fair, the website and the videos on there do a great job explaining the concept, and the roadmap gives an idea of future plans (although not very far into the future). But I for one would have liked a more detailed roadmap and a better understanding of some of the technicalities.

E. So, should you participate in this ICO?

Thanks to the deflationary nature of the system and its self regulatory aspects WGR has the potential to carry real value, and be a far safer long term investment than a lot of other alts, as long as there are people betting regularly and reliably and as long as the main assumptions of the team hold true.
Furthermore, it's interesting to note that only 2% of the fees will be distributed among the team members as payment once the initial starting capital is used up, giving me the impression of a fairly optimistic outlook in regards to betting volume from the team.
This being said, I'm not sure if WGR brings enough to the table to choose it over one of its competitors and the fact that there is no whitepaper as of right now doesn't inspire a lot of confidence (at least for me).
Certainly an interesting option for people interested in betting, and for those who can see themselves using Wagerr regularly. I for one will cautiously look forward to the release of the whitepaper and then make an informed decision on wether to invest in this ICO or not.

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So, this is it for our third installment of ICO City! Thank you very much for reading, and I hope the information in this post was of value to you!

If you have any suggestions on what ICO to talk about next, leave a comment below or send me mad amounts of BTC (or both).

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Thanks for reading and see you next time!