BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A new website that allows students to bet on the grades they’ll receive could amount to illegal online gambling, an Indiana University spokesman says.

“It looks like gambling to us,” IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said, questioning why the university is included on the site, www.ultrinsic.com

Ultrinsic Inc. lets students register on the site, upload their schedules and provide access to their school records. The site calculates odds based on the student’s academic history, the difficulty of each class and other factors.

Participating students wager on the grades they’ll get and can even buy “insurance” against bad grades.

IU and 34 other schools were added to the site recently.

Judah Guber, 26, chief operating officer and partner with Long Island, N.Y.-based Ultrinsic, acknowledged that organizers hope to make money through the venture. But he said the wagers give students added incentive to work harder for good grades.

“It gives them something to put them over the top as far as studying,” Guber said.

He said IU was included because of its successful academic and athletic programs.

“Two of the more important factors were its record for being a good school academically, combined with the fact that it has a premier athletic program,” he said. “When you have a school with a combination of those two, you learn a little bit more.”

The site’s gambling component makes senior informatics major John Ray, 21, uneasy.

“I take my classes pretty seriously as it is,” Ray said. “Gambling, if anything, makes it more serious. I like playing euchre, but when you put money on it, it almost makes it too serious to enjoy it.”

He said he worries the site could spur some students to cheat.

“If they’re motivated by money more than some other motivating factor, that might push them to say, give someone $20 to take a test. People cheat enough when money is not involved,” he said.

MacIntyre said dean of students Pete Goldsmith will investigate the site to determine whether it violates federal laws against online gambling.

Guber said the site is not considered gambling because it involves skill and students are in control of the results.

Posted 8/16/2010