You better, you better, you bet

Not just a lyric from the Who -- now students have a chance to make their own hedging strategies in the classroom by placing online bets on their grades.  Ultrinsic.com allows students to wager on their GPA for the semester.  The founders, according to WSJ, want to encourage students to work harder.  But students also can bet against themselves.  In any case, Ultrinsic gives students the chance to always be happy for one reason or another when final grades come out. 

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  Students are likely to initially have more data about their odds of getting an A in a particular course than Ultrinsic's algorithms.  They know who the easiest professors are AND they know which subjects they are best at.  However, like any racetrack or casino, Ultrinsic should set the odds at such a level that the house wins way more than it loses.  To paraphrase Harry Callahan, "Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya?"