The GoodBookey team has long been passionate about making the world a better place, one bet at a time. Curious how this came to be? Take a look at the story, as told by one of our founders, Tony Pease.

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I’ve never been a big gambler but I love making small bets. Years ago, a tradition started amongst several of our cofounders when we were at I-Cubed. As a mechanism to short cycle circular arguments, we would make $1 bets. When two people had a strong difference of opinion and didn’t have data to back it up, the $1 bet challenge was made. In this case, the loser would write down the reason for the bet, sign it, and pay it to the winner.

We did this as a way to reduce the non-productive time spent waxing philosophical about any one topic and saved us countless wasted hours. No one ever spent the dollar; they just collected them like trophies for bragging rights. This social gratification lead us to GoodBookey.

Gambling isn’t about monetary reward as much as social competition. Any logical person knows that there is a very low percentage of people who win money gambling. For example, in DFS, it’s estimated that 70% of participants lose money and the majority of prizes are won by less than 1%.

If the odds are so stacked against you, why does over 50% of the U.S. participate in gambling of some type?

We think that gambling is more about personal competition and activity engagement than winning money. Outside of serious, professional gamblers most of us are just looking for bragging rights. If financial reasons aren’t a critical part of the motivation for participation, what if we could use gambling constructs to create fun, entertaining ways to raise money for high-impact charities?

This is what we strive to do.

For GoodBookey, we are leveraging the typical gambling constructs to emphasis the social and competitive aspects of gambling. We do this while redirecting the monetary reward to charitable outcomes—something we are all equally passionate about. GoodBookey provides players the ability to make small bets against a friend. When it’s over, the loser makes a tax-deductible donation to the winner’s charity.

Another critical point is how to make gambling a more social and positive experience. Our players are already donating to charity. Going further, wouldn’t it be great if you could talk smack to your friends but also raise awareness for a cause you care about? This is where GoodBookey comes in.

Gambling can already be fun and social. With GoodBookey, we are also working to make gambling philanthropic.

GoodBookey — Put your money where your heart is. Download now on iOS or Android.