Pool betting involves pooling the stakes of the participants, deducting a proportion of the stakes to cover expenses, tax and operator's profits, and, when the result is know, sharing the remainder of the "prize pool" among the winners.
The level of individual prizes depends on the number of winners and cannot be predicted with any accuracy in advance.
To constitute pool betting the competition must have:
- an entry fee
- prizes, whether cash, goods or tickets to an event etc, and
- a power of selection for the entrants which could determine the winner
The most common form of pool competitions in Great Britain is the football pools. The companies concerned organise weekly competitions based on the results of a number of football matches.
