[Boner_18]

Originally posted on 01/12/2010:

Why would someone go to the trouble of creating an account and stiffing on a loan of 18 points, in the process exposing themselves as a ghost? If this guy doesn´t show up and pay, it would be the equivalent of a heist on a bank for $100.

I disagree. Clearly, the utility of getting a shot at the casino outweighs the potential loss of utility from being banned/discovered/etc. for this person. It makes a great amount of sense to me.

The only people who feel any degree of negative utility from being a point stiff are those that value their reputation here. And even then, this negative utility is really just the value of being a stand-up member of an anonymous internet forum.

In addition to the possible outing or damage to reputation, the negative utility includes effort to sign up a ghost account, which I suggest is very little effort.

Also, I would be willing to bet (pun completely intended) that some of these stiffs actually gain utility from watching people get mad at them, an additional reason to engage in this behavior.

Essentially, how I see it can be reduced to the following formula:

If Utility > Potential Loss of Utility (I suggest this is very close to zero) THEN stiff

I know that you were being facetious with the bank robbery analogy but in that case there is serious weight on the negative utility side in the form of, death, arrest, etc.

Sorry if this is over analyzing the whole thing, I just think it is obvious and predicable from an economics/sociology perspective and quite frankly I find it fascinating.

Simply put, it doesn't cost anything to stiff betpoints.

[Shortstop]

That was great! Rock on Boner!