Ultrinsic, a New York-based Web business, is helping university students to achieve better grades by giving them a platform where they can wager on their own good grades. Ultrinsic offers wager tiers ranging from straight A’s to “grade insurance” against bombing out of the semester; all options give students incentives via potential moneymaking.
Ultrinsic CEO says this is not online gambling
Online gambling is illegal in the United States, so Ultrinsic CEO Steven Wolf makes a point of informing anybody who’ll listen that his business is not an online gambling site. 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. Gambling is a game of chance, whereas Ultrinsic gives students a chance to take control and invest in their academic 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,” Wolf says. “Everything’s true over 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’re eligible to register for the inspirational “gaming” service. Odds are tabulated depending upon the student’s past academic history. Course specifics provided by affiliate colleges also play a role in formulating the odds. Original wagers cap at $25, but future wagers can be higher, based upon customer activity. Thirty-six colleges are in the Ultrinsic network now, and more are prepared as business expands.
How is this now online gambling?
I. Nelson Rose of California’s Whittier Law School says that when standard online gambling involves chance, a fee/wager and some form of prize, what Ultrinsic does is less clear-cut. Grades could be influenced by random instructor proclivities outside the student’s control. But in most cases, grade responsibility is squarely within the hands of the student. This means that skill is the primary factor, instead of luck.
Wolf doesn’t discount the variables. However, student effort is clearly the trump card. ”The biggest variable is how much effort the student wants to put in,” exclaimed the chief executive. “In general, if anybody would study 10 hours a day consistently for one class, they would get whatever 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/
