Comments on: Bet On Anything And Everything With BluBet

By: Think you know Web2.0? Ok. But can you predict Web2.0?

Think you know Web2.0? Ok. But can you predict Web2.0? — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:50:13 +0000

[...] games have been around for a while. Gottabet and Bluebet allow you to create a bet on virtually anything. Predicting games have been also around for a while: [...]

By: bhessert

bhessert — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:46:27 +0000

At first I was skeptical of the value of playing for fake currency, but as soon as I registered at Blubet, I got into it. The only problem is that the antes of varying magnitude confuse things when the currency is fake. I feel like the antes of varying magnitude are pretty much grouped as a single value. Unlike a bet with real currency, a 1,000 lira bet on Blubet is not ten times more important than a 100 lira bet.

By: Big Bets

Big Bets — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:38:30 +0000

This site is a copy of http://www.uBetWHAT.com

By: Song Kim

Song Kim — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:14:17 +0000

@Jed Christiansen: “And quite dis-similar from what Inkling Markets provides.”

BluBet does not claim to be similar to Inkling Market. As a matter of fact, we are far from it. However, we are similar in the sense that both products are built to make a prediction. Inkling does so with a futures market and we do so with a gambling site.

I personally don’t believe complicated futures markets are the way to make predictions with a diverse user sample. It’s the collective wisdom that counts and we have built the place to deliver that.

By: Jed Christiansen

Jed Christiansen — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:49:38 +0000

This website is really nothing like a prediction market. (And quite dis-similar from what Inkling Markets provides.)

A prediction market is a futures market, that lets you buy and sell a contract that provides some payoff in the future. BluBet is just a slightly more complicated polling system. You pick what you think the crowd will pick (poll) or what you think will happen (challenge). There’s no feedback, so the only purpose is social. Prediction markets’ purpose is to provide useful information, though there is often social interest.

As someone who consults for corporations that are using prediction markets in their businesses, I can easily say there is quite a bit of difference.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:02:37 +0000

Britney Spears is kind of famous. Is it that hard to get her name correct?

By: Emanuel Jacob

Emanuel Jacob — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:38:46 +0000

Check out http://www.BetsGoWild.com - same concept but with a store where you can redeem your play money!!!

By: dave mcclure

dave mcclure — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:36:46 +0000

thanks Mike.

you just helped me win 7,084 BluBucks

heh.

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:49:28 +0000

There is also a similar startup here in Germany: http://www.beatjoe.de
Unfortunately the site is only available in German.
What I prefer is that they are more focused on making it a good and fun “game”, whereas BluBet gives you points for telling them your gender, inviting friends etc. Which surely hinders me, as a (maybe typical German &) rather “old school” user from playing at BluBet.

By: randy

randy — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:33:33 +0000

“BetBlue” was taken?

By: Bertrand Bodson

Bertrand Bodson — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:50:25 +0000

Surprisingly similar to Gottabet.com !!

By: Dominic

Dominic — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:22:06 +0000

One thing no one has mentioned, ” It Seems Like FUN!. Forget whether the bets are for real cash or not. This will draw lots of people for the sheer pleasure of it. ebay was fun when it first started. It’s FUN just to win.

By: itsjustpartofourculture

itsjustpartofourculture — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:12:46 +0000

lame, outrageous, silly, stupid, goofy stuff => eyeballs => distribution => revenue.

who says that speculating on inane things isn’t valuable? people who don’t care about it. but the fact is that the majority of the world is attracted to the lame, the outrageous, the silly, the stupid, and the goofy, and giving them a voice in the conversation is what web2.0 is all about. if tens of millions of people are text-voting on which 20-yr-old is the best dancer in the US, why does bluebet sound stupid? it doesn’t.

By: wayne lambright

wayne lambright — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:03:18 +0000

RE: John Parker. “I don’t understand how sites like this continue to be popular without providing the user any real value.”

I get real value out of the site, and I would imagine the other more active users get value. Value is a perception.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:44:39 +0000

I just dont understand how people are prepared to waste time, and in the case of ‘proper’ betting, real, hard earned cash on gambling…

This is such a frivolous and inane use of anyones time.

This website is doomed and those investers need ‘re-adjusting’ if they think this is a good thing…

By: John Parker

John Parker — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:46:33 +0000

I don’t understand how sites like this continue to be popular without providing the user any real value. Web 2.0 is all about user generated content, but if the user isn’t getting anything for their effort, I see the 2.0 bubble bursting with greater effect than the .com bust.

By: Alex1714

Alex1714 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:58:46 +0000

Not really interesting …

AFRWIDSHFSK86176381AKFJALFKJS=

By: James Corbett

James Corbett — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:49:24 +0000

Is it just me or is that logo a complete rip-off of the Bluetooth one?

By: Nik

Nik — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:48:16 +0000

What are the chances of gaming the system? I could create multiple user IDs and then have each of the User IDs vote for each separate outcome. Any which way I win. Its like the stock scams sent in emails. 50 Emails advocate a stock goes up and another 50 advocate that a stock goes down. I look smart to 50 people.

Can this be gamed using a similar but more sophisticated type scheme if there is no real downside?

But, I guess one would really have to be bored to create some many IDs

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:32:29 +0000

Hmmm… bets without money. Defeats the purpose of my compulsive gambling habit. Without real skin in the game, gambling just isn’t that interesting.

By: lancolm

lancolm — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 08:00:52 +0000

this is a really cool idea. someone needs to make similar, using real currencies.

By: techguy

techguy — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:42:01 +0000

This has been going on for a while with Inkling Markets http://inklingmarkets.com/ They are one of the companies coming out of yCombinator.

By: wayne lambright

wayne lambright — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:35:44 +0000

I love blubet. I’m drawn to one’s closing soon, this way you don’t have to wait six months.