Baby due date or gender betting pools have long been a popular baby shower game. But parents-to-be are now using online baby pool games to get family and friends across the country to join in the fun.

Plus, online baby pool betting games are a great way to get the baby’s father and his friends involved and raise cash for gifts.

Here’s how to get started:

How to Set Up a Baby Betting Pool Game

Set up your online baby pool account. There are many services to choose from including BabyBety, Baby Bookie, and BabyHunch.

BabyBety.com recommends that you set up your pool 8-16 weeks (or more) before baby arrives.

Along with guessing the baby’s arrival date, game participants could also guess the baby’s gender, length, weight, and more.

When Kimberly Jolasun was pregnant, she decided to create a virtual game for family and friends to guess the gender of her baby. The game, simply called Gender Reveal Game, was such a success that she turned the game into a business, a business that’s already snagged the attention of Entrepreneur magazine.

Setting the Stakes

The stakes of the baby pool are up to you. You could have participants donate a small amount – $5 or $10 –for each guess. The winner could receive a portion of the pot. Or if all of the money is going to the parents-to-be, the winner simply gets bragging rights. Of course, you could also opt to give all of the money to the winner – but where’s the fun in that?!

With the Gender Reveal Game, your friends and family pay to play. They place bids to guess your baby’s gender and to be entered for a chance to win a prize. The prize is up to you. It can be something as simple as a gift card. Or the winner could get to choose the baby’s nickname.

So often, well-meaning friends and family buy expectant parents gifts that they don’t actually need or even want. But with these online games, you can use money from the pool to pay for expensive baby gear or to start a college fund for your child. Maybe you’ll use the money to finish decorating the nursery or even pay for extra maternity or paternity leave. The choice is yours.

Online Baby Betting Pool Games

Calculating the winner can be tricky and this is where an online service would come in handy.

Baby Bookie

Baby Bookie has a critically acclaimed scoring system that tracks guesses for baby’s arrival date and time, gender, height, and weight. Each guess is weighted on a 100-point scale with 65% of the score based on date and time, 25% on correct gender, 5% on height, and 5% on weight.

The closer the participants are to the actual specs of your little one in these categories, the higher their point total within each category. Once baby arrives and you enter the necessary details, Baby Bookie will calculate the winner and help you send a virtual announcement of your little one to the world.

BabyHunch

BabyHunch allows you to choose up to 8 categories for your pool. Categories include baby’s date of birth, time of birth, gender, weight, hair color, eye color, length, and the first letter of baby’s name.

Next, you can invite friends and family to add their guesses via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or email. Once your baby arrives and you enter your little one’s actual information, a winner will be calculated and announced.

BabyBety

BabyBety not only helps you set up your online baby pool game, but you can use the platform to create your registry, too. You can add any product from any online retailer. And the funds you collect from folks participating in the pool can help pay for those big-ticket items on your registry.

Gender Reveal Game will randomly select the correct winner and notify both you and the winner at the end of the game. You will be sent the winner’s contact information after the game to arrange to send them the prize you have chosen to provide.

Let the games begin! Have you tried one of the betting games above? Share your experience with the community.