GeneSweep or Gene Sweepstake was a sweepstake and scientific wager for scientists to bet on the total number of genes in the human genome.[3][4][5][6][7][8] The sweepstake was started at a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory conference in 2000.[2][9][10][11][12] Initially, bets could be placed for $1, which was raised to $5 in 2001 and to $20 in 2002.[2] The cost of placing a bet increased significantly because later participants were expected to have much more accurate information available to inform their guesses.[13] By May 23, 2000, 228 bets had been placed, with the average number of predicted genes among them being 62,598.[14]
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