Welcome on BETCoffee, your website for social bookmaking. Our objective is to open the world of betting to everyone. We created this social platform to offer you a safe and pleasant environment where you can easily create your own betting rules and play with your friends, colleagues or family.

We are aware of the downsides of gambling and fair and responsible gaming are our values. Therefore BETCoffee allows you to play with virtual money only. When you register, we'll automatically credit your account with 100.00 , BETCoffee's virtual currency. You can use them to place bets and hopefully you'll win more Rubies!

To start playing, you first need to subscribe. No worries, it is quick, easy and free. Basically, we just ask for your full name and email address.

If you would like to link your account right away withy our Facebook account, you can click on the corresponding button in the left margin. When using Facebook Connect, you don't have to enter any information, the registration process is seamless. Please refer to the section about Facebook Connect for further information.

You can use Facebook Connect to register and to log in to BETCoffee if you like.

Register via Facebook Connect

1. Just click on the "Connect with Facebook" button in the left margin.
2. Log in to Facebook (unless you're already logged in).
3. A popup will ask you to confirm:
   • that you authorize BETCoffee to access your Facebook account
   • that you authorize BETCoffee to email you on your Facebook email address (it's just for notifications about your bets, we don't spam!)

This has to be done only once (the first time you use Facebook Connect). Every time you come back to the BETCoffee website, just click on "Connect with Facebook" to login again.

Log in via Facebook Connect

If you already have a BETCoffee account, you can do the following.

• Click on the "Connect with Facebook" button in the left margin.
• Log in to Facebook (unless you're already logged in).

The first time you do this, a popup window will ask your to confirm:

• that you authorize BETCoffee to access your Facebook account
• that you authorize BETCoffee to email you on your Facebook email address (it's just for notifications about your bets, we don't spam!)

This has to be done only once (the first time you use Facebook Connect). Every time you come back to the BETCoffee website, just click on "Connect with Facebook" to login again.

In case you really would like to unsubscribe completely from BETCoffee, please send us a new message via our contact page on the website (Contact in the top menu bar).

When unsubscribing, please note that your account is deleted and you lose all the Rubies you have.

Authentication is required to play online. If you already have an account on BETCoffee, please enter your email address and password in the login form on the left side of the page. In case you forgot one or the other, there is a link below the form to help you ("Forgot password").

Please note that there is a timeout of 15 minutes. If you don't take any action on the website during 15 minutes, you will be logged out automatically. If it happens, just enter your email address and password again.

Facebook Connect

You can authenticate via Facebook Connect if you like. It will link your BETCoffee account to your Facebook account. A popup will ask you to confirm:

• the link between both accounts
• that you authorize BETCoffee to email you

SMS Players

If you only played by SMS, please use the link below the form ("Played via SMS") to upgrade your account and play online. It's free!

Finally, if you never played before, please take 1 minute to subscribe. It's easy and free as well.

The Ruby is BETCoffee's internal virtual currency that you use to bet. When you register, your account is automatically credited with a welcome bonus of 100.00 .

Besides rubis you win at betting, you will get:

• 25.00 each day you connect to BETCoffee.
• 100.00 when a friend registers to BETCoffee after you invited him.
  Make sure your friend registers with the same email or Facebook account you send the invitation to.

Your account is the placeholder for all the data related to your profile and your bets. It's always accessible in the left margin wherever you navigate. It contains:

• your personal contact details such as your name and email address
• the number of bets you have placed
• a 3-level rating showing if you've been trying to cheat based on other users' reports for abuse
• the amount of Rubies available for new bets
• your live win i.e. the potential amount of Rubies you may win on your existing bets

Besides, your account gives you access to:

• a detailed list of all your transactions i.e. the amounts credited to and debited from your account. The sum of all your transactions corresponds to the amount of available Rubies on your account.
• the history of all the betting rules you created or participated in
• the list of your friends

In some cases, you may end up having multiple accounts. For example, you may have placed a bet by SMS because one of your friends invited you by SMS, and you may have created a regular account online on another occasion. No worries, BETCoffee offers an option in your Account box to merge accounts in pairs.

Actually, there are 3 possible scenarios:

1. Merge an SMS account with your regular BETCoffee web account.
2. Merge an SMS account with a Facebook account (when you login via Facebook Connect).
3. Merge your regular BETCoffee account with a Facebook account (when you login via Facebook Connect).

Here's the workflow for case 1: merge an SMS account with your regular BETCoffee web account.

1. You log in on the website by clicking on "Played via SMS" in the left margin and by entering your mobile phone number.
2. You click on "Merge existing accounts" in your Account box.
3. BETCoffee will prompt you to enter the username/password of the second account.
4. Both accounts are merged. In other words, the mobile number of your SMS account is transferred to your regular BETCoffee account. Please note: if both accounts already include mobile phone numbers that are different, the merge will be rejected.
5. The SMS account is disabled.

Here's the workflow for case 2: merge an SMS account with a Facebook account.

1. Log in on the website by clicking on "Played via SMS" in the left margin and by entering your mobile phone number.
2. Click on "Merge existing accounts" in your Account box.
3. Click on "Create new account".
4. Once you've completed the registration of the new account, log out completely.
5. Log in again, this time by clicking on "Connect with Facebook" in the left margin.
6. Click on "Merge existing accounts".
7. BETCoffee will prompt you to enter the username/password of the new account you just created.
8. Both accounts are merged into the new BETCoffee account.
9. The Facebook account is disabled.

Here's the workflow for case 3: merge a BETCoffee account with a Facebook account.

1. You log in on the website by clicking on the "Connect with Facebook" button.
2. You click on "Merge existing accounts" in your Account box.
3. BETCoffee will prompt you to enter the username/password of the second account.
4. Both accounts are merged into the BETCoffee account.
5. The first account is disabled.

Please note: in all 3 cases described above, some values will be added one to another. For instance, if your account balance equals 100.00 on one account and 50.00 on the other account, you'll end up with 150.00 on the merged account.

The same rule applies for the counter of abuses. If the sum of the confirmed reports for abuse on both merged accounts equals 3 or more, your next attempt to bet will be rejected.

BETCoffee should be a place you trust, where you feel comfortable and where you can have fun. Therefore, your personal data is not disclosed at any time. However, please note that other users can see the following information about you by default:

• your nickname. If you prefer to stay anonymous, please choose a nickname that doesn't relate to your real name
• your first name and last name. If you prefer to stay anonymous, please modify your game settings (left sidebar)
• your photo (only if you logged in via Facebook Connect or if you have a gravatar)

In case you prefer to stay anonymous, please click on "Edit personal information" in the left sidebar and modify your privacy settings.

Besides, bare in mind that the way you describe your betting rules may reveal information about your real identity as well.

As a registered user, you can invite people to become your friends on BETCoffee. Provided that they accept your invitation, they will appear in your list of friends and it will be easier for you to keep in touch and to bet against each other.

If you authenticated with Facebook Connect, you can invite your existing friends on Facebook to visit BETCoffee.

Your friends are not necessarily your opponents. They can if you invite them bet against you.

BETCoffee is meant to be very simple to make your betting experience as pleasant as possible. Basically, you can take three different actions:

• create your own user betting rule and challenge other players
• place a bet on an existing user betting rule
• place a bet on an official bet organised by BETCoffee

In all cases, the following timeline applies.

1. Creation: the betting rule is created by one player or by BETCoffee.
2. Green bar: all other players, especially those invited, can place bets.
3. Close time: the maximum date / time to place a bet.
4. Grey bar: noone can bet anymore, the players are waiting for the outcome.
5. End time: each one of the players who took part are invited to set the actual result of the betting rule (was it true or false?). They have maximum 2 days to do so. In case of an official betting rule, the final result is provided by BETCoffee.
6. Result: assuming that all the players have answered at the previous step, the final result is announced and the players' accounts are updated accordingly.

Head-to-head gaming is the game model for user bets. Every time someone places a bet, he‘s betting against another player who placed the opposite bet. If both bets are equal, we call them activated bets. Furthermore, a player can only win the bet of his direct opponent no matter how many other players placed a bet on the same rule.

Example of two head-to-head activated bets

In case the opponents placed unequal bets (a different amount of Rubies), BETCoffee only takes into account the portion that is activated on both sides. The remaining unactivated portion goes back to the users‘ account when the betting rule is over. The same applies for winnings/losses as well as cancellations (see the paragraphs below about conflicts and abuse).

Example of 2 head-to-head bets.
The smallest bet (50 Rubies) is activated
whereas the biggest one (75 Rubies) is only semi activated.

Another example with 3 head-to-head bets.
The first 2 users placed activated bets
whereas the third user has a semi activated bet only.

When a player has no opponent at all, his bet remains unactivated and goes back to his account at the end of the rule.

Example of an unactivated bet

Unlike user bets based on head-to-head games, official betting rules are pool games. They are organised and arbitrated by BETCoffee.

Any BETCoffee user can place a bet that goes into a global pool. At the end of the rule, the winners share the loosers' bets and their accounts are credited with the sum of counter bets in proportion of the winners' respective bets.

A betting rule consists in an assumption and its possible outcome submitted by one player. Other players can place bets on it. In order to be consistent, a rule must include the following information:

• description: the subject of the rule, entered as a text statement. It must be straightforward enough to let one answer with yes or no. For example: Manchester United wins the Champions League 2010. See more examples...
• category: the category of the rule
• close date / time: the maximum date and time when users can place bets on the rule
• end date / time: the maximum date and time when the actual result of the rule is known and communicated. Please consider any potential extended time, for example in sports events.
• thesis: an assumption on the statement. At this point, BETCoffee only supports binary assumptions (true or false).
• amount: the initial amount of Rubies placed on the initial thesis. Of course, one player can only bet as many Rubies as available on his account.

Create A Betting Rule By SMS

You do not have to go to the website to create your rules, you can play by SMS as well. The only difference is that SMS does not let you chose a category. Here's how you can play by SMS:

1. Send a new SMS to 0041 79 381 60 10 with the following syntax:
   NEW [bet description] [number of days before close date] [number of days before end date]
   For example: NEW Obama will be president 1 2. Please note that this only creates a new betting rule; at this point, you haven't placed any bet.
2. The system will reply to you by SMS with instructions on how to place a bet. Just forward that same SMS to your friends to invite them to bet. To find more information on the process to place a bet by SMS, please refer to the corresponding section.
3. When the betting rule is over, a new SMS will tell participants how to get their winnings. It's that simple.

Sports

• Roger Federer wins the Tennis Masters Cup this year
• Next Sunday, I'll beat uncle Jim at our weekly table tennis match
• I do more than my friend Paul jumping rope skipping

Tech

• I can get 500 new Twitter followers within a week
• Apple will launch a tablet computer before the end of the year
• Firefox will grow 10% of market share world-wide in the next 3 months

Enterprise

• Steve Ballmer will resign from Microsoft at their next general assembly
• I can get a date with my boss' assistant before the end of the week
• My team will over achieve its monthly target by at least 30%

Politics

• Democrats will win the next regional elections in my state
• Barack Obama will be President of the United States of America

Celebrities

• George Clooney will get married before the end of year
• Bruce Springsteen will win another Grammy Award next year
• Britney Spears' next album will sell more copies in the United States in its first week than her previous album

Friends

• John & Judith's child will be a girl
• Jennifer will get a new hair cut in a week
• In a month, I'll have more Rubies on my account than my friend Jason

Any player can place a bet on any betting rules within the limit of his account. To place a bet, you just have to enter:

• a thesis (true or false)
• a bet i.e. an amount of Rubies

Once the new bet is saved, your account balance is modified as follows:

• the amount of available Rubies is debited by the value of your bet
• your live win is increased by the value of your potential winnings on this particular betting rule

Please note: If you place a bet and you have no opponent when the bet is ended, we refund your account with the amount of your bet whatever the outcome of the betting rule is.
Thus there is no risk for you to lose the amount of your bet unless you placed it on the wrong thesis and one opponent placed it on the right thesis.

Place A Bet By SMS

When you receive an invitation to bet by SMS (or when you create your own betting rule by SMS), you probably want to respond to place a bet. All the necessary instructions will be provided by SMS as well, nevertheless here is the process:

1. Send a new SMS to 0041 79 381 60 10 (or answer any other SMS your received from BETCoffee) with the following syntax:
   BET [bet ID] [TRUE or FALSE] [your bet amount]
   For example, to bet 15.00 on the betting rule number 294 with the assumption that the outcome is true, just type: BET 294 TRUE 15. The bet amount at the end is optional; you can just type BET 294 TRUE, your bet will be stored with a default amount of 5.00 .
2. As soon as your bet has been stored, the system will send you a confirmation with the following content: "Your bet has been placed! You will receive a sms when results are available."

Each betting rule on BETCoffee is represented as a horizontal histogram. New bets are piling side by side horizontally from left to right as they come in. Their sizes are proportional to their values. Colours indicate whether the differents bets are activated, semi activated or unactivated (see the paragraph about head-to-head betting to understand the different activation levels).

On closed bets, the different colours indicate who won and who lost.

Example of win/loss
The winning bet has a blue background,
the losing bet has a red background

Example of cancelled bets
The cancelled bets show with a black background

You can easily see the different couples of opponents as they show face to face, vertically. You can see each user's public profile details by hovering over its avatar.

The details page of a betting rule provides other important information such as:

• its status (active, closed)
• the nickname of its author including his experience
• its category
• its close date / time (when players are not allowed to bet anymore)
• its end date / time (when the result is known)

The most interesting part of social bookmaking is to challenge your friends, your colleagues in the office, a neighbour or a family member. BETCoffee offers you two simple ways to challenge people around you: SMS and email.

When you open the details page of a betting rule, there is a button to invite your friends to bet. Just enter the email addresses and/or the mobile phone numbers (you can even mix both) of the people you'd like to challenge and we'll invite them to bet against you.

User betting rules on BETCoffee are based on self arbitration. When a bet reaches its end time, every player who participated receives an email (or an SMS if he played by SMS) asking him to enter the actual outcome of the bet. In other words, every player has to indicate whether the statement (the description of the rule) was true or false in the end. When all players have answered, winnings and losses are computed and the final result is emailed (or sent by SMS) to everyone.

If one player does not answer in time (within 2 days after the end date), his bet and his opponent's bet are void and both stakes are refunded. In case of a semi activated bet whose author did not vote, or a bet that is activated by several counter bets, only the respective opposite portions are cancelled.

In this example, if the player 3 does not vote,
his bet and the corresponding opposite portion
of his oppenent (25 Rubies)
are void and stakes are refunded accordingly.
However, the head-to-head 50 Rubies bet
between players 1 and 2 remains valid.

On user betting rules (head-to-head games), there are only two possible scenarios:

• you compete against one single opponent who places an opposite bet with an equal value to your bet
• you compete against a group of opponents who placed an opposite bet and the value of your bet equals the sum of their bets

Winner

The winner gets twice the amount of his bet, provided that the opponent placed a equal bet. The number of Rubies in both accounts are updated accordingly.

In this example, the winner receives 100.00 (his own bet + his opponent's bet)

In case a player's bet is only partially balanced by one or several opposite bets (opposite bets are lower), winnings will correspond to twice the amount that is balanced by opposite bets. The rest (the unbalanced part) of the bet goes back to the player's account.

In this example, if the player on the top wins, he receives 100.00
(the part of his bet that was activated i.e. 50.00 + the opposite equivalent).
The remaining 25.00 from his inital bet go back to his account.

In case your opponent's bet is larger than yours, your winnings are limited to the value of your bet + the opposite equivalent.

In this example, the player #2 can only win 100.00 .

No opponent

In case a player's bet is not balanced by any opposite bets, it just goes back entirely to his account.

Loser

When a player loses his bet, his account is debited accordingly.

On official bets, the winners share the total bets placed by the losers in proportion of their own bets. To calculate your exact winnings on an offical bet, you can use the following formula: [my bet] x [total counter bets] / [total winning bets].

Conflicting votes may occur from time to time. In other words, two opponents set a different result on the same betting rule which usually means that they do not agree on the outcome. It may happen as well that one of them intentionally provided a incorrect result.

In both case, the bets of the conflicting parties are void and the corresponding stakes are refunded.

Here, if players #1 and #3 enter a different vote,
the head-to-head game between them is cancelled
and 25.00 go back to their respective accounts.
However, the head-to-head 50.00 bet
between the players #1 and #2 remains valid
unless there is a conflict between them as well.

A report for abuse can always be submitted for users who tend to enter incorrect votes. See below the paragraph about abuse.

Fair and responsible betting are BETCoffee's values. It is essential that players have a fair attitude and do not cheat against each other. The platform has been created by players for players and we want this community to grow in a positive spirit and the most possible secure environment. Hence the following security and user protection rules.

Users' integrity is represented on their accounts by 3 little smileys with a halo. New users start with 3 smileys as they are presumably fair. Every time abuse is reported and verified about one user, we'll remove one smiley from his profile. Three verified reports for abuse will lead to a ban.

Users can report abuse by clicking on the result of a closed betting rule. A typical situation is when one of the players enters a vote that does not correspond to reality. His opponent on the same betting rule can report an abuse.

When an abuse is recorded and confirmed, BETCoffee will simply cancel the cheater's and his direct opponent's bet and refund their accounts respectively.

Abuse, cheating attempts or misuse of the platform can also be reported by the users themselves by emailing abuse@betcoffee.com. A corresponding link is included in notifications emailed by BETCoffee to make it easy for users to report abuse, especially when the outcome of a betting rule is communicated.

In addition to abuse reporting, BETCoffee reserves the right to close any account and to ban any user if his behavior does not follow BETCoffee's terms and conditions.

The following links provide more information on reducing the dangers of gambling.

• CyberPatrol
• Contentwatch
• Netnanny
• Netmom

If you think you know someone affected by gaming, you can also refer to:

• Gambling Therapy
• Gamcare
• Gordon House Association

Finally, for any question, feel free to contact us.