Gameshow.co.uk - Scam?

I know a few readers and fellow quizzers got involved in this online game last week. Gameshow.co.uk ran a week long tournament for some pretty high stakes money given it was online. You basically answered questions and the players with the most points qualified for one of the prize positions (although you could "invite" wingmen to play who would score points for you too). The top prize was £1,000 with prizes descending from that down to about 50th place.

 It was a good little game to be truthful, all ran through facebook accounts but sadly it seems like one of two things has happened...

1) It is a scam for details. The site looking very professional and it was all so well done I have doubts it was a pure scam. Some people are reporting they have been asked for bank details which is the worrying aspect and everyone has been asked for an address for the cheque to be issued. I won a small prize but am not expecting anything to come from it.

2) What I think has actually happened is the people in charge have not gained the business they hoped and folded it. The site has gone totally, the tournament ended on Sunday night and by Monday morning the site said just "gameshow" in black and white. We all got emails saying where we had finished and what prize we won.

But basically the site worked by enticing you with three free plays and then charging to play. I think the organisers hoped that the high prizes, the competitive leaderboards and frankly the enjoyable game/questions would push people forward into buying credits. From what I gather most people seem to have used their free credits and then settled for their score. With so few players taking part the majority of players were in prize slots there was no incentive to buy credits.

A bit of research from a few more "in the know" about the internet than me shows that there is nothing overly suspicious in the sites registration details so I definitely think the second of the two options above has occurred.

It is a shame as a site like that could really work if they could find a way to make money without charging per play.