Although I’ve never been the gambling type, I can see no better reason for wagering than Long Bets. This charitable website based on long term bets was developed from two grants extended by Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.

Members register to make predictions and wager about current predictions. There is a fee to make a prediction and to bet on someone else’s prediction. The proceeds of all this wagering are designated to go to the charity of the gambler. The person with the winning bet enjoys seeing all the proceeds of the wagering go to the charity of their choice.

The type of predictions made on Long Bets are designed to invoke debate and encourage long term thinking and are not sports bets or short term bets. Long Bets also satisfies the desire people have to wager while donating funds to charity in an arena for competitive, accountable predictions. This unusual company was born in 2001 and is a non—profit foundation based in California.

I was fascinated by the various predictions made, ranging from business to doomsday predictions. One long bets predicted that by 2012, 75 percent of all revenue for software companies will be earned from subscription fees rather than license fees while another stated that China will break apart by 2030.

While I am never one to wager, Long Bets gives gamblers an ideal forum where they can speculate about relevant issues while placing a bet for the benefit of charity.

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