Betting pool

Betting pool

A betting pool, sports lottery, sweep or office pool if done at work, is a form of gambling, specifically a variant of parimutuel betting influenced by lotteries, 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 some 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. There are no odds involved; each winner's payoff depends simply on the number of gamblers and the number of winners. (True parimutuel betting, which was historically referred to as pool betting, involves both odds calculations and variable wager amounts.)

Contestants predict the outcome of sporting events that take place at a later time. The concept was introduced in 1923 by Littlewoods Pools where it was known as toto[clarification needed] and based on football (soccer) matches. Today in England, sports lotteries are more commonly referred to as football pools. 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.

A death pool is a betting pool concerning the death of someone.

See also

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pool — may refer to: Bodies of water*Plunge pool, small, deep body of water *The River Pool, river in England, tributary to the River Ravensbourne *Reflecting pool, shallow pool of water designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings: **Capitol… …   Wikipedia

  • pool selling — noun Etymology: pool (III) : the selling or distribution of chances in a betting pool …   Useful english dictionary

  • pool — pool1 /poohl/, n. 1. a small body of standing water; pond. 2. a still, deep place in a stream. 3. any small collection of liquid on a surface: a pool of blood. 4. a puddle. 5. See swimming pool. 6. a subterranean accumulation of oil or gas held… …   Universalium

  • pool betting — /pul ˈbɛtɪŋ/ (say poohl beting) noun 1. betting in which a group of people pool their wagers in order to place one large bet. 2. betting carried on by a group of people who lay bets at other than fixed odds with the other people in the group, the …  

  • Parimutuel betting — (from the French language: pari mutuel , mutual betting) is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and a house take or vig are removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among …   Wikipedia

  • Tote betting — The Tote is the only bookmaker in Britain which is allowed to offer pooled bets on horseracing. Other bookmakers offer a Tote service through syndication, while other bookmakers will accept a Tote bet and pay out on exactly the same terms as the… …   Wikipedia

  • Sports betting — is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. Contents 1 Types of bets 1.1 United States of America 2 Bookmaking 3 Odds …   Wikipedia

  • auction pool — noun : a betting pool in which selections (as of starters in a horse race) are sold at auction, the auctioneer usually retaining a percentage of the pool * * * auction pool, a system of betting in which the bets are sold at auction …   Useful english dictionary

  • Dead pool — For other uses, see Dead pool (disambiguation). A dead pool, also known as a death pool, death watch, dead cert or ghoul pool, is a game of prediction which involves guessing when someone will die. Sometimes it is a bet where money is… …   Wikipedia

  • life pool — also called  life pool        British billiards game in which each player uses a cue ball of a different colour and tries to pocket the ball of a particular opponent, thus taking a “life.” Players have three lives and pay into a betting pool at… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”