We’ve seen lots of competitions, lots of betting threads and many other ways of getting the Bootleggers community involved in things that are going on in real life, but this Euro Cup Lottery is one of the best ideas I’ve seen. It is currently being run in the Off-Topic Forum by Tarabsheh.
We have a ‘Bet on Euro 2012’ thread, created by Riotmaker, where players can bet on which team will win the competition. There is also a side contest for players to win 1,000 points if they correctly guess the number of goals scored in the competition. Riotmaker also has another sports betting thread which is updated with odds for players to bet on each of the day’s live games.
There is another thread, created by NextHype, which involves a fantasy league on the official Euro 2012 website. The winner of the league at the end of the competition will win 150 points. This is a smart idea because it involves less work for the player running the competition. Everything is already being updated on the official website; the host merely has to keep the thread updated with a screenshot of the league every now and then.
So what is the great thing about the Euro Cup Lottery? Well, those two other threads either involve one player winning or losing, or a player only winning back a return on their own personal bet. The Euro Cup Lottery will split everything between the winning ticket holders. If the pot is $4,000,000 then that is the amount that will be split between the winning ticket holders.
It’s a great way of ensuring that as many people win something as possible, providing that they bet on the right team. As of writing this the total pot is set at $4,250,000. If we take an example as Spain, the competition favourites, there are currently 65 tickets for Spain to win. If you have one ticket, which cost $10,000, you stand to win around $65,000. That is a much better return than if you would’ve bet $10,000 on Spain to win in Riotmaker’s thread (no offense, Riotmaker).
Players can also buy more than one ticket too. I bought five tickets for Germany to win, when the price was still listed at $10,000 (it has increased to $25,000 and will be increased to $50,000 once the semi-finals begin). So, my gamble of $50,000 currently stands to earn me around $240,000. Obviously, if the Germans lose, then I stand to earn nothing, but that’s what gambling is all about.
I’m well aware that this competition is well underway and it may seem strange to write a Buzz article about it. However, sometimes the community is good at doing things and I feel that it should be written about in the Buzz. So, hats off to Tarabsheh and HomicideV2 for putting this great competition together.
