Long Island Based Website Allows Students To Bet On Grades

Source: WPIX

CEDARHURST, N.Y. (WPIX) — One local politician is looking to put the kibosh on a latest campus craze, in which college students are looking to cash in on their grades by enrolling in an online site that offers up lots of money for their good marks.

Nassau County Legislator Dave Denenberg is calling upon Juluis Genachowski, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice to investigate a Cedarhurst-based company, "Ultrinsic Motivator, Inc," who are alleging operating an illegal gambling website involving 36 colleges and universities across the country -- including St. John's University.

The website in question apparently invites students to place wagers on their academic performance in a particular course, or courses, offered at a copy or university. In addition, the site offers several options including "course incentive," "multicourse incentive," "semester incentive," "4.0 GPA incentive," "course insurance," and "semester insurance."

Students can then place wagers on whether they will receive an A or B in a particular course or in several courses during a semester or during their entire college career. Students also have to the option to purchase "course insurance" or "semester insurance" if they believe they will fail a course or courses.

The site calculates student's odds based on previous transcripts and the difficulty of each class.

For example, if a student deposited $50 in their account, reaches their target grade, they double they earnings. However, if he doesn't make a good mark, he loses the money he initially deposited.
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Read more: http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-gambling-on-grades,0,4908366.story

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There's a video of the legislators presentation on this site: http://merrick.patch.com/articles/video-denenberg-seeks-to-outlaw-website-that-lets-students-gamble-on-their-grades

I don't know enough about this yet to tell if this is a legitimate complaint or nannyism, but it does seem like a way to rip off college kids which is a pretty common practice.

I see the potential of "getting the grade" no matter what it takes. That goal isn't restricted to studying and reading more. More like cheating on tests, plagiarizing term papers, and breaking into online accounts of professors.

"He bet on his own team."

far better, IMO, to bet on yourself (you can control your own behavior) than bet on something whose outcome you have no control.