Betting on the Headlines: HubDub.com

A new site called HubDub makes the news a little more interesting, by letting you bet on how current events will turn out. (The money's fake, but it's still fun.)

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on January 31 2008

Do you know someone who can recite the rulebook when it comes to Seven-Card Stud and Texas Hold ‘Em, but thinks that Kazakhstan was invented by Borat, and that Mike Huckabee is merely a character from that weird movie with Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin a few years back?

Well, there may be a way to get your high-rolling buddy to cash out his chips and start reading the Times, thanks to an innovative new website called Hubdub. The new site, which launched on Monday, combines news and gambling in an innovative package – readers are given 1,000 virtual “Hubdub dollars,” which can be used to place bets on the outcome of current news stories.

Think Hillary will end up the Democratic front-runner? Will the Patriots win the Superbowl? Put some Hubdub dollars on your choice, and you may come out ahead. Even if you’re wrong, no big deal – you can collect another $20 in Hubdub funds every day, and it’s not real money, anyway.

Even though no money changes hands over Hubdub, the company’s founder, Nigel Eccles, expects the opportunity to show up on the high scorers list to be incentive enough for potential betters.

“It’s not so much the cash,” he told The Associated Press. “It’s being right.”

Sure, you won’t get rich off your Hubdub predictions, but if anything can make reading the headlines a little more fun, it’s worth a try, right? Spread the word – maybe you’ll manage to get your friend to make the switch from Party Poker. At least for a few minutes a day in between tournaments.

As for us, we’ll be putting our fake money down on Ralph Wiggum for president. (Stranger things have happened.)

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