Betting

Foo Fighter started the Betting Shop to offer punters the chance of betting on the outcome of certain in-game events in VO, such as the Deneb Run and eventually the Deneb Championship Season. The betting offered is entirely in VO game credits and on VO events. Fixed-odds betting is usually offered, although a betting pool (aka Parimutuel betting) may be offered on other events. The odds are always quoted English-style as fractional odds.

Betting on Deneb Run

How Do I place a Bet ? You need to find Foo Fighter's Betting Shop ingame; pick amongst the racers and odds quoted to you; and transfer your bet (the stake) to Foo Fighter by using /givemoney (when you are in the same sector). Your bet will be confirmed back to you, including the odds. Please keep your record of that.
Betting on the forthcoming Deneb Run race (which are held on Saturday nights) is usually offered from about Tuesday during the week. Foo Fighter manages a betting book, and may (time permitting) be around until Saturday to offer betting services. (In other cases or travel or holiday, betting may cease earlier than Saturday, so get your bets in early). You may try to post on the CoalitionOfItan forum your betting order, if you cannot find the Betting Shop in-game.
In all cases betting will close before the Deneb Run race commences, and only stakes that are fully paid up are valid. The minimum stake is 100,000c and the maximum stake is $3M per bet. Regular customers may place more than 1 bet, in which case their maximum total position is limited to $8M across bets.

Betting on Other races or events

Betting will be offered on the Deneb Championship Season but in this case you need to be crystal clear that you are betting for the Championship, and not an individual race. Please bet only if you are going to be around at the time of Deneb Run 150 to collect any eventual payout.
The betting shop will try to offer bets on other events if there is demand for them.

Understanding the Odds quoted

Odds will be quoted both in the VO forum in the RP section, and in-game, either on [100] or sometimes on [500] or in your sector. A typical set of odds is:

4/3 * Katrina Le-Feir * favourite
2/1 . Mick
5/2 . Jestatis Bess
8/3 . Waldoze
4/1 . Cranston Gorky
5/1 . Maiz Man

These are fractional odds quoted English-style. If your racer wins, you get the fraction quoted back as profit, plus your stake. To take an example, if you wager $1M on Cranston Gorky at 4/1 and he wins, you would get $5M winnings as: $4 profit + $1 stake back to you. In this example Katrina is shown as the favourite, her odds are the shortest (or most likely). If you wager $3M on Katrina at 4/3 and she wins, you would get $4M profit + $3M stake back = $7M winnings. Clearly the odds have been quoted by the bookmaker such that Cranston Gorky is a long shot compared to the favorite, Katrina. (Sorry racers this is intended solely as an illustration, good luck to both of you :-) ). Sometimes 4/1 will be called 4/1 against. 1/1 is known as even money and basically means: double your money. In some cases a racer may even be the odds-on favourite, for example with a 3/4 quote, which means you win $1.75M total for $1M bet ($0.75M + $1M). If you have any doubt about understanding the odds, I would encourage you to either look a the wiki: [1] or ask Foo Fighter ingame.

Questions

What is the minimum stake?
Minimum stake 100,000c and Maximum stake $3M per bet (and $8M across your positions if you do cover-bets). Please only gamble if you can afford to lose your stake. If you are a n00b, then go take some Trade Convoy Escort Missions :-)

How come the odds are changing? I thought it was fixed-odds?
Well the odds agreed with you for your bet are fixed, and will be honored. However over time new customers may be quoted slightly different prices, as the betting book fills up. For example if there is heavy betting on Maiz Man, the bookie may update his odds from 4/1 to 3/1 and even 2/1, for new punters. This is done to risk-manage his book, to reflect updated information, and as the lineup becomes clearer closer the day of the race

Is this endorsed by Deneb Run organisers?
This betting is a private business run by Foo Fighter and not endorsed by the Deneb Run MCs, their sponsors, nor any guild. Having said that, we use official Deneb Run results to determine payout, and we are fully supportive of the good work of the Deneb Run MC's.

What if my racer doesn't turn up?
Sorry, if your racer no-shows, DNFs (Did not finish), raced under a secret identity, or (god forbid) was disqualified, then it counts as a loss. Please consider that piracy of the Deneb Run does result in DNFs for some racers (generally not the most skilled, though).

Can Racers bet on themselves?
Racers betting on themselves or on other racers (inside bets) are accepted solely at the bookmakers discretion, and may be refused. The bookmaker also reserves the right to limit these bets to $1M stake and/or to offer the bet at reduced odds, by shaving 1 off the odds (i.e. a 4/1 odds racer getting 3/1 on his self-bet). We do not want any fraudulent betting.

What assurance do I have that I will get paid out my winnings?
You have credit risk on Foo Fighters Betting Shop, having said that, Foo Fighter has set aside tens of millions of credits as risk capital (reserves) to cover any sustained losses in the Betting book over a couple of weeks. So the Betting shop will Always honor all legitimate bets and payout.

Who can I complain to or give feedback to?
All feedback goes to Foo Fighter. We aim to please customers an always deal in an honorable and transparent fashion. Please do not go and bitch to any Deneb Run MCs.

Tips

TBC.

Terms and Conditions

If you want to bet you must:
* find me in-game, agree the bet & odds, and /givemoney
* failing that, post me a message on the www.coalitionofitan.org forum, public thread.
* only fully paid up bets are valid.
* The Betting activity has nothing to do with the Deneb Run official organizers.
* The Betting activity is a private business of myself and is not backed, endorsed nor underwritten by any guild, including [ITAN].
* I maintain reserves from time to time to ensure full payout on bet. Punters have Credit risk on my name.
* I may from time-to-time race in the Deneb Run, at my discretion.
* all odds are quoted English-style, fractional odds.
* Note also that if your racer does not finish (DNF), was pirated, did not show up, (or god forbid got disqualified) then it counts as a loss.
* In the event of any unforseen changes to the Deneb Run schedule, the bets are all still valid and binding, for the rescheduled time of the DR race number they were agreed for, so long as the race still goes ahead. (In the unlikely event that a DR is cancelled and the count number the following week leapfrogs, all bets are returned to punters.)
* Just to be clear I will normally not accept bets by racers on themselves. I will _sometimes_ accept such "insider" bets but at my discretion. I also reserve to accept "insider" bets by racers at a discount of -1 to the LHS of the quote. (Example: 4/1 quoted to the public on Iry but when Iry asks me to bet on himself, I sell him only 3/1) and/or to limit this type of bet to $1M stake.
* E&OE.
* Please write down or keep a record of your stake and odds as your receipt. (Of course, I keep a book of them).