How Barbets works
Three minutes of house rules. Nobody is a bookmaker, and the group settles its own bets.
The basics
Bets are sealed until the market closes
While a market is open nobody sees who bet what, not even you, for anyone else. There is just a running total. At close the pool splits into a percentage per side, and individual bets stay hidden until it resolves.
Winners split the losing pool
It is parimutuel, so there is no house. Everything staked on the losing side is divided among the winners in proportion to what each of them put in, and your own stake comes back on top.
Everyone starts even, and stays capped
Every member is seeded the same balance when they join, and again at the start of each season if the group runs them. There is no way to buy more, so your stake is your stake.
The group settles its own bets
Anyone eligible calls what happened. If nobody disputes it inside the challenge window, it stands. If someone does, the group votes by secret ballot and a tie upholds the original call.
Every group answers these differently
The owner picks the house rules when they set the group up, and can change them later. Inside the app this page shows your own group's live answers.
Endorsement
Whether a new market needs a second member to back it before anyone can bet. Groups turn this on because a second pair of eyes catches an unfair or unclear question before money is on it.
Hedging
Whether you can hold bets on more than one side of the same market. Groups turn this off because a big bet on the favourite plus a token bet on the underdog is a way to win either way.
Challenge window
How long the group has to dispute a called result before it stands. The same clock runs the vote if someone does challenge, ending early once everyone eligible has voted.
When nobody called it right
If the outcome that actually happened had no bets on it, most groups refund every stake. Others pay the market’s creator a cut and roll the rest into their other open markets.
Seasons
Whether the board resets. With seasons on, standings are archived to an awards page and everyone is reseeded when one ends. With them off, one running total carries forever.
Edge cases
Markets about you are invisible to you
If a market mentions you, you will not see that it exists anywhere until it resolves. Then you see everything, including who bet what.
Leaving a group
Any market about you is voided and refunded. Your other open bets stay in play and settle without you. You are not reseeded if you come back.
Being removed
Permanent, and the invite code rotates the moment it happens, so the old link stops working.
A market nobody bet on
If closing time arrives with no bets at all, it is voided outright. Nothing to settle, nothing to refund.
The group being deleted
Only the owner can do it. Every open market is voided and refunded first, and everyone gets five days to look at the final board before it disappears.
Still have a question? See support, or read the terms of use.