How To Run A Simple Wagering Pool (Bet For Fun & Forfeits)

If I was to show you how to run a simple wagering pool where you would be up against your friends with pride, money, and forfeits at stake, would you take it seriously, and would you do everything you can to win?

I’m guessing you would.

What if I told you there was a free app that would track, place and settle all your results, so organizing the wagering pool would be a walk in the park.

No one can cheat, and no one can deny the results.

That sound good?

Well, there is, and I’m about to share everything you need to know to set one up.

What Is A Simple Wagering Pool?

A wagering pool is a form of betting where everyone pays a set price or receives a set amount of points to bet or compete against each other. You compete by betting on anything you want, but typically it’s a sport of your choice, and it will last for as short as a day or long as a season.

How does It work?

The best way to show you how a wagering pool works is through the following example:

You have decided to set up a bet between you and your friends.

The bet will last for 60 days and focus on soccer games for a set period of 90 days. You each will receive 500 points to start, and you can bet on any football game within the 60-day time frame. You score points by predicting the correct outcome for the games.

Now, you may be thinking.

I’ll just bet on the teams that are almost certain to win, but this is where things get a bit more interesting. 

You see, you score more points by predicting the teams to win with bigger odds, so if you were to place 100 points on Manchester United to win against Norwich (a very likely result), you would only win around 10 points. 

However, if your friend decides to take a slight gamble and bet on Manchester City to win against Liverpool (a slight favorite), he would receive 25 points — he would be winning you in the competition.

You may be wondering who sets the odds and decides what games are available to bet on — I’ll come to that in a minute, but for now, you need to realize that betting on the clear favorites won’t guarantee you the win.

It will probably guarantee that you lose.

How To Run A Simple Wagering Pool? Step by Step

The best way to set a wagering pool up is through the WagerLab app. It’s free, easy to use, and will save you a ton of hassle in the process.

The only requirement is that you and your friends will need to download it from the app store for your Apple or Android devices.

You’ll then need to set up the wagering pool by selecting the ‘Pools’ option on the menu bar at the bottom of the app.

Then click the blue + icon and select the ‘Create A New Pool’ option.

You are then provided with eight options to create your pool — the one you need to select is the ‘Custom Betting League’ option.

Now it’s time to set the rules. 

First, you must decide the starting date, duration, starting points, and the points per bet limit. In addition to this, you will also need to determine if you want to allow prop bets between each other and partial game bets.

Once done, all that is left to do is pick the sport you want to bet on, name the pool, add the max entries allowed and invite your friends.

It’s that simple.

Read More: How to create a March Madness Betting Pool

What To Bet Bet On?

You have a choice of 12 categories to choose from for your pool. Soccer, NBA, NFL, and so on, they’re all available for you to choose from, so choose wisely.

My advice is to pick a sport that you’re all interested in as this will add to the competitive edge you have against each other.

What Does The Winner Get?

On the app, the winner won’t get anything. It will just show the winner as the champion for the league. However, you and your friends can pool an entrance fee together, and the winner will take it all.

For example, You all pay $50 before you start; the money is stored away till the end of the competition. After that, the person with the most points wins the money.

You can stick to a small number of friends or involve friends of friends and work colleagues; this way, the prize pool will be more significant.

The choice is yours.

What Happens To The Loser?

Here’s the fun part!

The loser could simply get nothing and be known as the ‘loser,’ or they could have to pay the price in the form of a forfeit.

You can set the forfeit before the competition starts, so everyone knows the risks involved.

What type of forfeit?

That’s up to you to decide; you can be as calm or as wild as you want. You could get the loser to shave their hair, pay for lunch, dye their hair, or even do the full monty in a packed bar. Here is a list of 11 Funny Punishments For Losing A Bet

The choice is yours to decide and agree with your friends before the competition starts.

Just remember that you’re friends after all, so maybe the full monty in a packed bar is a little too much!

Are You Up For The Challenge?

You now know how to run a simple wagering pool to have some fun with your friends. All you need is the WagerLab App, and a few friends who are brave enough to take you on in the challenge.

Maybe you’ll add a forfeit for the loser; this will add to the competitive edge and make the challenge more enjoyable.

You’ll be able to have banter, goad, and some serious laughs along the way.

So what are you waiting for?

Go and set one up.