A betting pool, syndicate, sports lottery, sweep, or office pool if done at work, is a form of

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

, specifically a variant of

parimutuel betting Parimutuel betting, or pool betting, is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the ''house-take'', or ''vigorish'', are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among a ...

influenced by

lotteries A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

, where gamblers pay a fixed price into a ''pool'' (from which taxes and a house "take" or "vig" are removed), and then make a selection on an outcome, usually related to sport. In an informal game, the vig is usually quite small or non-existent. The pool is evenly divided between those that have made the correct selection. While historically there are no odds displayed; each winner's payoff (or odds) is a simple calculation dividing the pool less takeout by the number of winners. (The only major difference from true pari-mutuel betting is that it allows for variable wager amounts.) Betting pools are not connected only to sports, as there are topics such as deaths and births which people can bet on. Death pools usually involve well-known individuals, such as celebrities and sports figures, which the participants predict will die within a certain period of time. On the other hand, birth pools involve individuals picking specific dates in which someone, who can be either a celebrity or friend, gives birth.

History

The concept was introduced in Britain in 1923 by Littlewoods Pools where it was known as ''toto'' and based on

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

matches.

Today

Today in England, sports lotteries are more commonly referred to as

football pools In the United Kingdom, the football pools, often referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, and may enc ...

. American sports lotteries often do not require contestants to purchase a lottery ticket or make an initial wager. Hockey pools are common in North America, and footy tipping in Australia. In the United States the most popular type of betting pool is the March Madness pools. Leading up to the

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the Division I level ...

, contestants fill out forms that predict who will win. In 2013 it was estimated that 58 million Americans participate in the contest every year. There are also many handicappers and pundits which offer advice for winning your bracket. Another popular type of betting pool is the

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

. Millions of people bet on the winners of all 39 bowl games every year. There are also notable sport betting pools across the globe such as Hollywoodbets, American Totalisator,

Sport Select Sport Select is a group of sports betting games offered by Canada's lottery corporations. In Quebec, the program is known as Pari sportif; in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, it is known as Pro-Line while in British Columbia, it is known as Sports A ...

and others. A traditional betting pool takes place during the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

, where entrants make random picks for the score of the game. These entries are known as "squares" where players either pick or are assigned a cell in a 10 by 10 grid. Then after the grid is filled, the rows and columns are assigned a digit (0-9) which corresponds to the final number in the score of each team. The player with the correct combination wins, and prizes may be paid out for having the correct score at the end of the game, at the halftime and for each quarter.

References

External links

Betting on Football Pools
Edward A. Bender, UC San Diego, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Betting Pool Sports betting Gambling games Wagering Gambling terminology

History

Today

See also

References

External links