Definition

Picket pools are a form of sports betting based on a short timeframe. The public's increasing interest in this type of pool is fostered by March Madness

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship

The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...

 and the Superbowl. A picket is a pool that can be completed on-line whereby the participant predicts the outcome of each game in the pool. His or her predictions are compared against others in the pool, and whoever has the best prognostication skills wins the contest.

Difference from other pool types

A Picket consists of predicting the winners of match-ups within a pre-determined group of events.

The duration of a Picket is one or two days and then the winner(s) is declared. An individual can participate in a Picket by completing the corresponding card

Card

Card primarily refers to an entire or piece of card stock.Card may refer to:-Small flat objects:* ATM card* Business card* Charge card* Cigarette card* Debit card* Flashcard* Gift card...

 (which lists all the events in the competition

Competition

Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...

). The bettor

Bettor

A Bettor is a person who makes bets based on particular information, or feeling, on sporting or other events in the hope of gaining financial profit.-Low Vs. High-stake bettors:...

 is free to play as many tickets for each Picket card

Card

Card primarily refers to an entire or piece of card stock.Card may refer to:-Small flat objects:* ATM card* Business card* Charge card* Cigarette card* Debit card* Flashcard* Gift card...

 as he/she wishes.

All tickets purchased by individuals for a specific Picket create an aggregate pot. The pot size is determined according to the number of tickets played. As more tickets are played the pot increases in size.

Picket Variations

A bettor

Bettor

A Bettor is a person who makes bets based on particular information, or feeling, on sporting or other events in the hope of gaining financial profit.-Low Vs. High-stake bettors:...

 has the opportunity to box

Parimutuel betting

Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...

 an event. When an event is boxed the ticket marks both sides of that event and that ticket is guaranteed to be correct for that event regardless of which team wins. A bettor may box as many as 5 times thus covering 5 different potential outcomes of a picket.
For example: A ticket costs $6 ($5 +$1(Vig

Vigorish

Vigorish, or simply the vig, also known as juice or the take, is the amount charged by a bookmaker, or bookie, for his services. In the United States it also means the interest on a shark's loan. The term is Yiddish slang originating from the Russian word for winnings, выигрыш vyigrysh...

)):

• 1 Boxed event makes the ticket cost $12 ($10 = $2)
• 2 Boxes = $24 ($20 = $4)
• 3 Boxes = $48 ($40 +$8)
• 4 Boxes = $96 ($80 + $16)
• 5 Boxes = $192 ($160 + $32)

Determination of a Winner

Tickets for each Picket can be purchased only up until a specific time before the events begin. At that point, the Picket is closed and the pot is fixed, so bettors know what there potential earning will be.

The winning ticket is determined after all events are completed. The ticket or tickets with the most correct selections is the winner. Winning tickets split 80% of the pot and second place tickets split 20% of the pot. In instances, where the number of winning tickets exceeds 25, then the winning tickets split 100% of the pot (in this case all second place tickets do not receive any payout).