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 totoclarification 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.

Chicago Poker Card Game

The poker-related card game called Chicago is one of the most popular card games in Sweden today. Relying on the keeping of score instead of the placing of bets, it is suitable even for environments such as schools, where gambling is often prohibited. The game exists in countless versions, so here a somewhat arbitrarily chosen basic game will be followed by a number of possible variations.

Hand scores

The backbone of the game is that each poker hand has its own point value, as given in this table:

One pair - 1 point.
Two pair - 2 points.
Three of a kind - 3 points.
Straight - 4 points.
Flush - 5 points.
Full House - 6 points.
Four of a kind - 7 points
Straight flush - 8 points

Basic rules

Chicago is played with a standard 52-card deck. Each player is dealt five cards. The objective is to reach 52 points.
Exchanges and hand scoring

The players are allowed to exchange any number of their cards. If a player chooses to exchange one card only, he may choose "one up", meaning that he is dealt one card faced up, which he can either accept, or instead take the next card unseen. After the exchanges, the player with the best hand and only one player gets points for his hand. Then follows another round of exchanges, but no hand scoring.

Now, the first player begins by playing one card. Ordinary whist rules apply, but the players keep their cards collected by themselves. The player who wins the last trick gets 5 points. Also, the player with the best hand whether it is the same player or not gets points for his hand. Please Note: After achieving 42 points a player is no longer permitted to trade cards as they normally would. Instead, they are dealt 6 cards at the beginning of the game and must discard one before the first scoring round. No further exchanges are permitted.
Chicago

After the second exchange, any player can choose to play Chicago. In this case, he pledges himself to win all the tricks of the game. If he does, he is awarded 15 points, but if he fails, the penalty is just as harsh: -15 points.
Blind Chicago

Sometimes, a player given five cards below ten either inclusive or exclusive - must be decides before game starts is allowed to replace them before the exchanges begin.
Some play with 3 exchanges instead of 2. Then of course, scoring for hands will be made after both the first and the second exchange.
Some do not use the "one up" rule.
Often, a game will require that a player declare "Chicago" before they can win the game. The declaration is accepted regardless of whether one wins or loses the 5 tricks.
Often, one wants to give higher rewards than 7 or 8 points for four of a kind and Straight flush respectively. There are several ways to achieve this, most notably by elevating the player immediately to 52 points, or lowering either all players or one player of the holder's choice to 0 points, or a combination of these. Some also separate the Royal Flush from the Straight Flush, awarding 9 points for a Royal Flush. Holding a Royal flush usually means immediate victory.
The confusion is great as to what scores are appointed in the case of Chicago. Some will argue that no player will get any points at all besides the +15 or -15, whilst others will allow other points to be awarded. The +5 for the game, however, can never be stacked with the +15 for Chicago. Yet another variation is to award +13/-13 points for Chicago and the declaring player gets to go first. In that variation it is forbidden to declare Chicago unless the player has reached 13 points, ruling out the possibility of a negative score.
Some prescribe that any player with 45 points or more is not allowed to replace any cards.
Some require that after and not in the same hand as a player reaches 52 points, he must win the game once more before he actually wins. This handles the possibility that more than one player reach 52 points in the same hand.
Some award 10 points instead of 5 if the last trick is taken with a deuce. If this variant is employed, 30 points must also be awarded for a Chicago hand successfully ended with a deuce.

Wagering is Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value as the stakes on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period.

Gaming refers to instances in which the law permits the type of gambling. Gaming and gambling are not mutually exclusive. A gaming company offers legal gambling activities to the public and a gaming control board may regulate the gaming company, like the Nevada Gaming Control Board. However, the English-speaking world does not acknowledge this distinction often. For instance, in the UK, the regulator of gambling activities is called the Gambling Commission not the Gaming Commission.  In addition, the word gaming describes activities that do not involve wagering, especially online.

Gambling is also a major international commercial activity, with the legal gambling market totaling an estimated $335 billion in 2009.

Under United States federal law, gambling is legal in the country and states are free to regulate or prohibit the practice. Gambling has been legal in Nevada since 1931, forming the backbone of the economy of the state. The city of Las Vegas is perhaps the best known gambling destination in the world. In 1976, gambling became legal in Atlantic City, New Jersey and in 1990, under state law, gambling became permissible in Tunica, Mississippi; both of those cities have developed extensive casino and resort areas since then. Since a favorable United State Supreme Court decision in 1987, many American Indian tribes have built their own casinos on tribal lands as a way to provide revenue for the tribe. Because the tribes are sovereign nations, they are often exempt from state laws that restrict gambling and are instead regulated under federal law.