Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Pointburn ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and protects your information when you use our website. By using Pointburn, you agree to the practices described here.

1. Who We Are

Pointburn is operated as a personal project based in the United Kingdom. If you have any questions about this policy or how your data is handled, you can contact us at: pointburn.contact@gmail.com

2. What Data We Collect

When you create an account and use Pointburn, we collect and store the following:

• Account information: your username (display name) and email address
• Game activity: your stakes, guesses, and results on prediction games
• League activity: leagues you create or join, your league points, and wall posts
• Profile customisation: your chosen avatar and profile colour
• Comments: any comments you post on games
• Leaderboard data: your username and gold total, which are visible to other users

We do not collect payment information. We do not collect your real name or address.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use the data we collect to:

• Operate your account and allow you to log in
• Run the prediction game — recording stakes, calculating payouts, and displaying results
• Show league leaderboards and member lists to other members of the same league
• Display your username and gold balance on the global leaderboard
• Allow moderators to manage games and enforce the rules of the site

We do not sell your personal data. We do not use your data for automated decision-making that has any legal or significant effect on you.

4. Advertising

Pointburn displays advertisements to support the running of the site. These ads are served by third-party advertising networks. We currently use, or plan to use, ad networks including but not limited to Media.net, Ezoic, and Google AdSense.

These ad networks may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to show you relevant advertisements based on your browsing behaviour. This is standard practice for ad-supported websites.

Ad network partners may collect:

• Your IP address and approximate location
• Your browser type and device information
• Information about pages you visit (including this site)
• Cookie identifiers used to personalise ads

You can opt out of personalised advertising through your browser settings, or by visiting Your Online Choices (UK/EU) or the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.

5. Cookies

Pointburn and its advertising partners use cookies. Cookies are small text files stored in your browser. We use them for:

• Authentication: keeping you logged in via Firebase Authentication
• Advertising: enabling ad networks to serve and measure ads

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling cookies may affect your ability to log in to the site.

6. Firebase and Data Storage

Pointburn is built on Google Firebase, which handles user authentication and database storage. Your data is stored on Firebase servers operated by Google. Google's privacy policy applies to the processing of data through Firebase and can be found at policies.google.com/privacy.

7. Data Sharing

We do not sell or share your personal data with third parties, except:

• Google Firebase: for authentication and data storage (see above)
• Ad networks: which collect data as described in section 4
• Legal requirements: if required to do so by law or a valid legal process

8. Public Information

The following information is visible to other logged-in users of the site:

• Your username
• Your gold balance (on the global leaderboard)
• Your avatar and profile colour
• Comments you post on games
• Your league memberships (visible to other members of those leagues)
• Your game statistics on your public profile page

Please choose a username that you are comfortable being publicly visible.

9. Your Rights (UK / GDPR)

If you are based in the UK or European Economic Area, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: you can request a copy of the data we hold about you
• Correction: you can ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Deletion: you can ask us to delete your account and associated data
• Objection: you can object to certain uses of your data

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at pointburn.contact@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days.

10. Children

Pointburn is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the site after changes are made constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: pointburn.contact@gmail.com