Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Pool Addicts ("the Platform"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these terms, do not use the Platform. You must be at least 18 years of age to create an account, manage a pool, or participate in any pool on the Platform.

2. Platform Description

Pool Addicts is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that provides tools for creating and managing sports pools for entertainment purposes. The Platform supports formats including draft pools, box pools, bracket pools, confidence pools, and other competition formats. The Platform is a neutral technology provider that facilitates pool management and scoring.

3. Entertainment Purposes Only

The Platform is intended for entertainment and social competition among friends and groups. Pool Addicts is not a gambling platform and does not facilitate, promote, or endorse gambling in any form. The Platform does not process, hold, or facilitate pool entry fees, prize payouts, or any monetary transactions between pool administrators and participants. Any exchange of money related to pool participation occurs entirely outside the Platform and is solely the responsibility of the individuals involved.

4. User Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age to use the Platform. By creating an account, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years old, and where the law of the jurisdiction in which you reside requires a higher age of majority to participate in any contest of skill or chance, that you meet that higher age requirement. The Platform is not available to users located in the United Kingdom, the State of Utah, or the State of Hawaii, and access from these jurisdictions is blocked at the network level. By using the Platform, you represent that you are not located in any restricted jurisdiction and that you will not access the Platform through a virtual private network, proxy, or other means designed to circumvent our geographic restrictions.

5. Account Responsibilities

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration. You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account.

6. Pool Administrator Responsibilities

Pool administrators ("Admins") are responsible for managing their pools, including setting rules, inviting participants, and overseeing pool operations. Admins are solely responsible for any money collection or distribution related to their pools. The Platform does not facilitate, process, or track any payments between Admins and participants. Admins must ensure their pools comply with all applicable local laws and regulations.

7. Participant Responsibilities

Participants join pools at their own discretion and are responsible for understanding the rules set by the pool Admin. Any financial arrangements between participants and Admins are private matters handled entirely outside the Platform.

8. No Handling of Pool Money; External Escrow

Pool Addicts does notcollect, hold, custody, transmit, or distribute any pool entry fees, prize pools, side payments, or other funds exchanged between Admins and participants. The Platform exposes no payment surfaces for pool money. Any reference within the Platform to an "entry fee" or "prize" is informational only, used by the Admin and participants for their own record-keeping.

If you choose to run a pool involving real money, you agree that allcollection of entry fees and distribution of prizes will be conducted entirely off the Platform — for example, in cash among friends, by personal e-transfer, or through a regulated third-party escrow service such as LeagueSafe. We strongly recommend the use of an independent escrow service for any pool of meaningful size. Pool Addicts is not a party to, has no visibility into, and accepts no responsibility or liability for the collection, holding, accounting, disbursement, refund, dispute, taxation, theft, or loss of any funds exchanged outside the Platform.

9. User Responsibility for Local Compliance

It is the sole responsibility of each Admin and each participant to determine whether their pool, contest, or participation is legal and compliant with all applicable laws and regulations in the jurisdiction in which they reside or in which the pool is operated, including but not limited to gaming, contest, lottery, tax, anti-money-laundering, and consumer-protection laws. You agree not to use the Platform for any purpose that is unlawful in your jurisdiction. Pool Addicts makes no representation that the operation of any pool is lawful in any particular jurisdiction, and we provide no legal, tax, or regulatory advice of any kind.

10. Subscription and Payments

Pool Addicts offers subscription plans for Admins who wish to access premium features. Subscription payments are processed securely through Stripe. Subscriptions are for Platform access and software features only — they are never payments for pool entry fees or prizes. Optional participant feature upgrades, where offered, are software purchases for enhanced Platform features such as an ad-free experience and push notifications. All subscription fees are non-refundable except where required by law.

11. Intellectual Property

Pool Addicts and its original content, features, and functionality are owned by Pool Addicts and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. NHL team logos displayed on the Platform are the property of the National Hockey League and its member clubs. Pool Addicts is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the NHL or any professional sports league.

12. Prohibited Uses

You may not use the Platform to facilitate any activity that is unlawful in your jurisdiction, including unlicensed gambling. You may not use the Platform to harass, threaten, defame, or harm other users; to upload malicious code; to scrape, mirror, or republish Platform data without our express written permission; to attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Platform, other accounts, or related systems; or to use automated means to interact with the Platform other than through documented, approved interfaces.

13. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, or non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free of viruses, or that any sports data, scoring calculation, projection, ranking, or standing will be accurate, complete, or timely. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, in which case such warranties are limited to the minimum extent permitted by law.

14. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will Pool Addicts, its operators, contractors, or licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including without limitation lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, loss of goodwill, or loss of any funds collected or distributed outside the Platform, arising out of or relating to your use of or inability to use the Platform, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. Our total aggregate liability for any and all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Platform shall not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you have paid to Pool Addicts for software subscription fees in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred Canadian dollars (CAD $100). The limitations in this section apply regardless of the form of action and survive termination of these Terms.

15. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Pool Addicts and its operators, contractors, and licensors from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, proceedings, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your use of the Platform; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any applicable law or regulation, including any gaming, lottery, tax, anti-money-laundering, or consumer-protection law; (d) any pool you create, administer, or participate in, including all collection, holding, and distribution of pool entry fees and prizes occurring outside the Platform; (e) any dispute between you and any other user; and (f) any failure to pay or report applicable taxes. Pool Addicts reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate in asserting any available defences.

16. Dispute Resolution; Binding Arbitration; Class Action Waiver

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights.

Informal resolution. Before initiating any formal dispute resolution, you agree to first contact us at legal@pooladdicts.com with a written description of the dispute and an opportunity to resolve it in good faith for at least thirty (30) days.

Binding arbitration. Except where prohibited by applicable law, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Platform, including disputes regarding the existence, validity, breach, or termination of these Terms, that is not resolved informally shall be finally resolved by confidential, binding arbitration administered under the rules of the ADR Institute of Canada, by a single arbitrator appointed in accordance with those rules. The seat of arbitration shall be Toronto, Ontario, and the language of arbitration shall be English unless otherwise required by law. Each party shall bear its own costs of arbitration except as the arbitrator may otherwise allocate.

Class action waiver. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you and Pool Addicts each agree that any dispute resolution proceeding will be conducted only on an individual basis and not as a class, consolidated, or representative action. If a court or arbitrator decides that this class action waiver is unenforceable as to all or part of a dispute, then the dispute resolution provisions in this section will not apply to that dispute or part of the dispute, which shall instead proceed in court in accordance with Section 18.

Consumer law carve-out. Nothing in this section is intended to limit any non-waivable right you may have under the consumer-protection legislation of your province or state. In particular, if you are a resident of Ontario, the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 may limit the enforceability of arbitration and class action waivers against you; to the extent it does so, those limitations apply and override this section.

Small claims. Either party may bring an individual action in a small-claims court of competent jurisdiction, in lieu of arbitration, for any dispute that qualifies.

17. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, for any violation of these Terms or where we reasonably believe continued access poses a legal, security, or operational risk. You may delete your account at any time through your account settings. Upon termination, your right to use the Platform will immediately cease. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including limitations of liability, indemnification, dispute resolution, and governing law — will survive.

18. Governing Law and Venue

These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict of law principles. Subject to the binding arbitration provisions in Section 16, the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Toronto, Ontario for the resolution of any dispute that is not subject to arbitration.

19. Changes to These Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will provide notice of material changes through the Platform or via email and will update the "Last updated" date above. Your continued use of the Platform after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

20. Contact

General questions: support@pooladdicts.com. Legal notices and arbitration correspondence: legal@pooladdicts.com.