New York-based company Ultrinsic’s site now provides with a platform where they can take part in what amounts to wagering on their own grades. Ultrinsic offers wager tiers ranging from straight A’s to “grade insurance” against bombing out of the semester; all choices give students incentives via potential moneymaking.
Ultrinsic CEO says this isn’t online gambling
Ultrinsic chief executive Steven Wolf wants everybody to know that his business is not an online gambling portal. According to the Associated Press, Wolf makes the distinction between “betting on grades” at Ultrinsic and using a standard online gambling portal- Ultrinsic involves skill, instead of luck. What one person would call gambling, Wolf would call students investing within the future – their own future.
”The students have 100 percent control over it, over how they do. Other people’s stuff you bet on – your own stuff you invest in,” said Mr. Wolf. “Everything’s true about it; I’m just trying to say that the underlying concept is a little bit more than just making a bet – it’s actually an incentive”.
The Ultrinsic way
If a college student is 18 or older, they are eligible to register for the inspirational “gaming” service. Odds are tabulated based upon upon the student’s past academic history. Based upon upon data provided by participating colleges, odds are also affected by specific course info. First wagers cap at $25, but future wagers could be higher, based upon upon consumer activity. Thirty-six colleges are in the Ultrinsic network now, and more are prepared as business expands.
And this isn’t online gambling how?
I. Nelson Rose of California’s Whittier Law School says that while standard online gambling involves chance, a fee/wager and some form of prize, what Ultrinsic does is less clear-cut. Grades can be influenced by random instructor proclivities outside the student’s control. Yet for the most part, grades are within a student’s control. This means that skill is the primary factor, rather than luck.
Wolf doesn’t deny that such variables can in fact exist. Student effort reigns supreme. “The biggest variable is how much effort the student wants to put in,” he told the Associated Press. “In general, if anybody would study 10 hours a day consistently for one class, they would get no matter what grade they wanted to get”.
Associated Press
articles.moneycentral.msn.com/news/article.aspx?feed=AP and amp;date=20100810 and amp;id=11861854
Ultrinsic
ultrinsic.com/
