So my friend Paula had, on her Facebook page, an invitation to join her DietBet. I plunged.
DietBet is an intriguing concept. For the wager I joined, you pay a fee to enter, and your bet is that you can lose 4% of your body weight in four weeks. If you succeed, you split the pot with everyone else who made it. If you don’t, you lose your fee.
Now DietBet takes a rake for administrative costs, so what if everyone wins? In that case, the company gives up its fees. So, if you make it, the worst case is that you’ve lost 4% of your body weight and still have your money. Not bad, eh?
DietBet says the typical payout is one to two times the entry fee. I entered Paula’s and one other one, so I have $65 riding. Let’s see how I do. (The idea of rolling a successful take straight into another bet is rather appealing, I must admit.)
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So how do they make sure that people don’t lie about their weight loss?
Julie, there are fairly rigorous photographic protocols to follow when submitting your weigh-ins. They’re not perfect, but I suspect they thwart most efforts to game the system.