巴菲特怎么玩竞猜？

伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司（Berkshire Hathaway）的NCAA（全国大学体育协会）疯狂竞猜奖金远远高于一般竞猜活动。

就像过去几年一样，伯克希尔·哈撒韦董事长兼首席执行官沃伦·巴菲特每年将给成功预测甜蜜16强名单的员工奖励100万美元，中奖者可终身领取奖金。今年，疯狂三月的奖励政策比以往更为诱人。巴菲特表示，如果家乡内布拉斯加州的球队挺进甜蜜16强，奖金翻番。

对于巴菲特来说，这几乎是场必胜的赌注。去年，娱乐体育节目电视网ESPN收到1,880万份竞猜单，最终仅18人猜对16强队伍。巴菲特的疯狂竞猜已进行了四年，还没人能将终极大奖抱回家。

以下是过去几年的竞猜活动简介。

2014年

这是巴菲特疯狂竞猜的第一年，公众也可以参加，奖金由伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司和快速贷款公司（Quicken Loans）提供。这一年，巴菲特开出10亿美元，奖给猜对所有比赛胜负的人，不过最后没人得到这笔巨额奖金。之后的诉讼案件揭露，雅虎曾退出合同，举办了类似的竞猜活动。

2015年

2014年的竞猜产生法律纠纷，导致2015年的活动化为泡影，粉丝对此极为失望，因为巴菲特曾说希望2015年的竞猜能够比较容易获奖。

2016年

2016年，巴菲特的疯狂竞猜强势回归，不过仅限供职伯克希尔·哈撒韦及其子公司的30多万员工参加。巴菲特不再向成功预测所有比赛胜负的人一次性支付10亿美元奖金，而是给猜对甜蜜16强队伍的中奖者每年奖励100万美元（可终身领取），或给正确预测胜负场次最多的参加者奖励10万美元。两名伯克希尔员工，来自USLI保险公司的凯文·威尔士和伯克希尔旗下盖可保险公司（Geico）罗伯特·凯勒成功预测了前15场比赛胜负，平分了10万美元大奖。

2017年 

去年的竞猜活动与之前一样：正确预测所有16强队伍的参加者每年都能得到100万美元，可终身领取；猜对胜负场次最多的参加者获10万美元奖金。西弗吉尼亚州的一位钢铁工人德维恩·约翰逊距终极大奖仅一步之遥：他正确预测了前32场比赛中的31场。最后，他赢得了猜对胜负场次最多的10万美元奖金。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正 

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) does not have your average NCAA bracket office pool.

As in years past, chairman and CEO Warren Buffett is offering $1 million every year for life to any of his employees who can pick a perfect NCAA tournament bracket through the Sweet 16. This year, the March Madness stakes are even better: Buffett said he’ll double the prize if a team from his home state of Nebraska takes the title.

For Buffett, it’s a pretty safe bet. Of the 18.8 million brackets filled out on ESPN last year, only 18 got the Sweet 16 right. In the four years Buffett has run similar contests, no one has taken home the grand prize.

Here’s what’s happened in the previous contests:

2014

The first year the prize was offered, the contest was open to the public and sponsored by Berkshire Hathaway and Quicken Loans. The prize that year was $1 billion for a perfect bracket, which no one won. A lawsuit later revealed that Yahoo had backed out of a contract to offer a similar contest.

2015

The legal issues that followed the initial 2014 contest meant the contest didn’t happen that year, much to the disappointment of fans who had taken Buffet at his word that he wanted the contest to be easier to win in 2015.

2016

In 2016, Buffett brought the contest back, but just for the more than 300,000 people who work for Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries. Buffett offered $1 million every year for life rather than a one-time payment of $1 billion to anyone who picked a perfect Sweet 16, or $100,000 to the longest surviving bracket. Two Berkshire employees, Kevin Wills of insurance company USLI and Robert Keller of Berkshire-owned Geico, split the $100,000, having each correctly predicted the first 15 games of the tournament.

2017

Last year, the offer was the same: $1 million every year for life for a perfect bracket, or $100,000 for the best bracket. A West Virginia steel worker named Dwayne Johnson came tantalizingly close to winning the grand prize, correctly predicting 31 out of the first 32 games. He won the $100,000 prize for having the bracket that stayed intact the longest.