How Tote Board works
Predict whether a stock's dollar price ends the next window higher or lower. Everyone who's right splits the whole pot. Five minutes to read this and you know everything the contract knows.
Stake ETH on UP or DOWN, wait for the round's price window to finish, and if you were right you collect your share of everything the losing side staked — minus a 3% fee.
How to play
- Connect a wallet on Robinhood Chain
Any wallet works — Rabby, MetaMask and friends. The site will offer to add or switch the network for you. You only need ETH; there's no token required to play.
- Pick a side on the "Betting open" card
UP means you think the stock's USD price will be higher at the end of the round's price window than at its start. DOWN means lower. The live multipliers on the card show what each side pays right now.
- Choose your stake and confirm
The bet sheet shows your projected payout including your own stake — adding money to a side dilutes it, and we show you the diluted number, not the flattering one.
- Wait for lock, then the price window
When betting closes the round locks and its reference price is fixed. The next window of price movement decides it. You can't add, remove or change a bet after lock — neither can anyone else.
- Collect
Once the round settles, winners collect from the card, the positions table, or the Collect button in the header (which sweeps every round you're owed from, in one transaction). Winnings never expire.
How payouts work
This is a parimutuel pool — the model racetracks have used for a century. There are no odds set by a bookmaker and no house taking the other side of your bet. The two pools of stakes are the market:
payout multiplier = total pot × 0.97 ÷ your side's pool
Worked example. Say a round closes with 6 ETH on UP and 4 ETH on DOWN — a 10 ETH pot, 9.7 ETH after the 3% fee:
| Result | UP pays | DOWN pays |
|---|---|---|
| UP wins | 1.62× | 0 |
| DOWN wins | 0 | 2.43× |
Notice the shape: the less crowded your side, the more it pays. If 90% of the pot piles onto UP and DOWN wins, the DOWN bettors are paid nearly 9.7×. You aren't just predicting the stock — you're paid best for being right when the crowd is wrong.
Your personal payout is proportional: stake 1 ETH of a 4 ETH winning pool and you get a quarter of the winnings.
The round lifecycle
A round has two halves: a betting window, then a price window of the same length. The betting always finishes before the measured movement begins — so nobody can stake after watching the move happen. Two rounds are always in flight: while you bet on one, the previous one is locked with its price running.
Stakes accepted on both sides. Multipliers move as the pools fill.
Locked. The reference price is fixed and the price window is running. Nothing can be added or withdrawn.
The window ended and the result is fixed in on-chain price history. UP or DOWN is recorded the moment the first winner collects — there's no separate step. Winners collect whenever they like.
Prices come from on-chain time-weighted averages (TWAPs) over the pools where the tokenised stock actually trades, converted to US dollars so a move in ETH itself can't decide your round. Both boundary prices are averages over several minutes, not single prints — one weird trade can't set them.
How rounds settle
You never settle anything. When a round's price window ends, its result is already fixed in recorded on-chain price history — and the first winner who presses Collect records it and gets paid in the same transaction. There is no separate step, no waiting on an operator, nothing to race for.
Because the result is computed from recorded history, it is identical no matter who triggers it or when within the window — a backstop keeper also records rounds whose winners haven't collected yet, so results appear on the board within moments either way.
Refunds — when in doubt, everyone gets their money back
Whenever there's no fair way to decide a round, the contract refunds every stake in full. That happens if:
- Everyone bet the same way. With nobody on the other side there's no prize to win, so stakes come back.
- The price didn't move at all. Typically because the stock market is closed — a flat window has no honest winner. (Some prediction games keep the whole pot on a tie. This one refunds it.)
- Nobody settled in time. If a round is somehow left unsettled past its grace period, it voids and every player withdraws exactly what they put in.
Refunds are collected the same way as winnings — the card, the table, or Collect.
Fees
| What | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rake | 3% of the pot | only on decided rounds — refunds pay no fee; funds the project |
| Betting | gas only | ~$0.01 per bet on Robinhood Chain |
| Collecting | gas only | ~$0.01, batches any number of rounds |
FAQ
What does it cost to play? Is there a fee?
A 3% rake is taken from each round's pot before winners split it — that's the only fee the game charges, and it's how the board is kept running. Losers pay nothing extra; the rake simply comes out of the winnings. Details in Fees.
Can I cash out or change my bet before the round ends?
No. Once staked, a bet rides to the end of the round. That's what makes the pool fair — nobody can bail out as the price moves against them, leaving the other side holding a different bet than they entered.
What exactly decides UP vs DOWN?
The stock's USD price, as a several-minute on-chain average at the round's lock and close. Higher at close than at lock → UP wins. Lower → DOWN. Exactly equal → refund.
What happens when the stock market is closed?
The tokenised stock keeps trading on-chain around the clock, so rounds usually still decide. If the price is genuinely flat across a round, it refunds instead.
Can I bet both sides?
Yes. You'll win one and lose the other, which nets you −3% — it's allowed, just rarely wise.
Do winnings expire if I don't collect?
No. Claims have no deadline. The Collect button sweeps everything you're owed across all past rounds in one transaction.
Who is the counterparty? Can "the house" run out of money?
There is no house position. Winners are paid from the losing side's stakes, which are already in the contract before the round decides. It cannot owe more than it holds.
Why did my bet get rejected?
Almost always because it was below the minimum stake. The bet sheet checks that before your wallet ever opens, so a rejection is rare.
Is this gambling?
It's a game of skill played with real money against other players, with a fee — legally that's treated as betting in many places. Know your local rules, and play responsibly: set a budget, and stop when it stops being fun.
Glossary
- Round
- One cycle of the game: a betting window followed by a price window of the same length.
- Lock
- The moment betting closes and the reference price is fixed.
- Close
- The end of the price window. Close above lock → UP wins.
- Pot
- Everything staked on both sides of one round.
- Multiplier
- What a winning stake pays: pot × 0.97 ÷ winning side. Shown live on every card.
- Settle
- Recording a round's result on-chain. Happens automatically inside the first winner's Collect.
- Void
- A round with no fair outcome. All stakes are refunded in full.
- TWAP
- Time-weighted average price — the several-minute on-chain average used for every boundary, so single trades can't set a price.
Round winnings are paid by other players — across everyone, players lose exactly the 3% fee. Only stake money you can afford to lose, and treat any winnings as the result of a game, not an income.