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Calling all gamblers…

April 22nd, 2009 · No Comments · Personal

I had an idea the other day that’s been gestating in my head. I’m not the gambling type so I’m not familiar with the intricacies of the idea but here’s the gist of it. I have a new sports car, one that’s even faster than the last one and will no doubt be a shining beacon to police cars everywhere. I also have no doubt people will be expecting to hear about my first speeding ticket fairly shortly – heck I kinda do myself.

With that in mind I want to set up a betting pool. The general idea is that anyone can pay to put their name down on any day of the entire year from the start of the pool (so for example from today until 4/22/10), and guess at how fast over the speed limit I will be caught. If I do get pulled over for speeding (and this applies only for speeding, and me getting a ticket), then whomever comes closest to the day and the speed at which I get ticketed wins the pot. If a year goes by without me getting stopped by the Po Po for speeding, the pot is mine. People can bet more than one day but only one speed on that day, and the speed they bet will be the MPH over the limit I’m caught doing. So for example if you say 15MPH then I can get caught doing 50MPH in a 35MPH zone or 80MPH in a 65MPH zone.

If there are days I know I will not be driving a car (like when I’m on vacation with the family or on a business trip) then I will make sure no bets can be placed on those dates.

There’s more details to figure out as well. I originally planned to just have it be a $1 bet for each day people choose to play on. However maybe if I allow people to bet whatever they want, they can put (for example) $5 down on one day to increase their odds? So if it happens that more than one person manages to nail (or come close to nailing) the day and speed at which I get stopped, the one who put $5 on that day would beat out the one who only put $2 down.

Also should I make it so that if I get pulled over one month into the year-long period, that the winner only gets the money bet up to that date? And then we just keep going until the year is up? Or should the winner get the whole pot and that will just be the end of it? Hrmmm…

And then of course there’s the collection. I suppose, given that I’d really only be soliciting this pool from friends and people I know well, that I can just ask them to trust me with their money. Wait. No, I was serious. C’mon shut up! Stop laughing!!

Well okay, maybe it would best to look into some kind of escrow account where the money can sit until the conditions are met for its release (I get pulled over or a year goes by).

Then, if I want this to be all legal and such, I’d have to make sure the pool is in accordance with all the state laws and any international laws for my buddies outside the US. And I’d have to file some kind of IRS tax no doubt if the pool happens to grow large enough to warrant their notice.

Finally, there’s the simple fact that you all have to believe I’m capable of getting a speeding ticket and thus giving you some incentive to put money down in anticipation of winning when I get caught. Well, I’ll honestly say that I don’t get many speeding tickets anymore – in fact my last one was back in 2007. However that was within a year of getting my last car. I’ve also been stopped numerous times since then, but did not receive a speeding citation. Still, I drive at least 10MPH over the limit practically everywhere I go besides 25MPH zones. I try very hard not to screw around in 25MPH zones. So really I don’t receive tickets not because I don’t speed – I’ve just gotten better at not getting caught over the years.

So really it all boils down to a challenge from me to you. I’m betting that I won’t get caught speeding for one year, starting from the day I start taking bets (officially).

Who’s in? I’m not expecting this to be a huge thing (but it’s the internet – who knows?) it’s mainly for fun and if you have a couple spare bucks lying around – why not?

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