I’m here to report on the results of my year of StepBet membership.
[Back in May I wrote about StepBets. You can find that first post (with lots of details about how it works) here.]
The Basics:
StepBet is an app that you download. In the app you join a game and bet a certain amount that you will take a certain number of steps each day. You generally have four Active Days, two Power Days, and one Rest Day. You get to pick which days you want to be your Active, Power, and Rest Days. Your personal number of steps are set by your history of steps.
*You do need something that will connect with your phone/tablet (app) that tracks your steps, such as an Apple Watch, Garmin, or FitBit to participate in StepBet games.*
As long as you get your steps in each day/each week for the duration of the Bet you get your money back and then some. Winnings equal the bets of the people who dropped out (did not meet their step goals) divided by all the players who DID meet their step goals.
Step Bet takes 15% of the pot before dividing up the winnings in non-member games. If you win (meet your step goals every week of the game) you are guaranteed to get your investment back…so you can’t lose money.
Membership – If you want to try to increase your fitness or steps, you can enroll as a Step Bet Member. Membership costs $50/year, but it allows you the ability to play in three games at the same time.
How My Year of StepBets Paid Off:
I am a bit of a nerd, so I kept a spreadsheet of all my bets and their payoffs.
I played in (and won) twenty-five games this year. My average profit for the two-week games was $2.33 (not bad considering the bet for those was $10). The average profit for my six-week games was $7.41 (with an original bet of $40).
As you can see from my spreadsheet, I put in the $50 membership fee, and an additional $90 to start. The $90 was spent on three bets, two $40/six-week bets, and one $10/two-week bet. As long as I won all of the bets (you are competing against yourself – this isn’t like betting in Vegas) I was guaranteed to get that $90 investment back. As of May 11th I had made back my membership fee and was already $7 in the black!
Because the longer games had higher returns, after I had built up enough winnings, by about mid-April, I took the dive and decided to make my third game another six-week ($40 bet) game.
My last bet ended on December 12th, and I cashed out on the 14th.
After a year of StepBets I had earned a profit (meaning not counting the $50 membership I needed to recoup, and not counting the $90 of original bet investments) I cashed out with $114.91.
My Thoughts:
This is not a get quick rich scheme. It does however keep you moving – especially if you don’t like losing money.
It has been a good way to make sure I get a workout/walk/random dance party in six days a week. If I put money on it you can bet I’m going to take it seriously and I am going to get my steps in, even if it means I have to hop out of bed and dance around in my pajamas before going to sleep if I am a few steps shy of the goal.
My favorite thing about StepBets is that you are betting against yourself – or rather ON yourself. How others perform has an impact on the winnings, but as long as you get your steps in six days a week you get your money back and have lost nothing (financially speaking).
After my year of games, I have decided to cancel my membership (a very easy process that simply involves an email to their kind and responsive support department). After a year of ensuring I met my steps each day I think I’ve become too focused on numbers.
I will still be moving, but I hope to be more focused on the fun of moving, and the appreciation of what my body can do, rather than checking my watch to make sure I hit X number of steps.
I do not regret my year of StepBets (how could I when I walked away with almost 115 extra dollars), I might even do it again, but for now I going to make other parts of my wellness my focus.
I may partake in the occasional non-member game in 2022; like with all things, I’m not sure what the future holds.
If you are looking for motivation to move more in the new year, I would encourage you to give a StepBet a try.
Wow! Look at you go. Are you going to do it again this coming year?
No, I Think I’m going to take a break from StepBet games in 2022. Beyond that, you never know what the future holds. 😉
[…] with StepBet (I wrote a post about my year long experience as a StepBet member, you can read it here for more information), or try their parent company, WayBetter where you can bet on yourself to do […]