Oh man, I can almost feel the despair from the comments. And the last comment really brings it home.

Well, I guess we already have some ideas for April Fools next year!

I'm fine with it if both parties agree and stick through to the end

However, since this will not always be the case with some arguing it being unfair, or other unforeseeable turn of events, it leads to issues. Agreeing to a bet in thread is in no way permanently binding, so forcing a ban on someone who does not want it doesn't end well.

The mod team is far too busy banning me from political threads for them to consider ban bets :)

This

You're banned from political threads?

No. The mods shouldn't be dragged into something so childish. If I were a member of the mod team, I'd decline to participate.

It's like making a "loser goes to jail for a day" bet in real life and then expecting the Police Department to comply. If the parties in question cannot control the outcome of the bet themselves then they should change the requirements.

sure. why not. after all people can be pretty obnoxious when they go on saying "omg I'll bet you on our account getting banned this or that". I can see it either way, but the thing is if they were enforced someone could (can?) just make a new account right? I would imagine a bet ban's damage should just be you lose your posting profile and not that you're blocked from using an account on the site anymore (Ip wise) or whatever

if anything it would make it more interesting when people have argument wagers if they really would get banned when they throw the statement out there. like its kind of a dumb thing to say to begin with, but if people are going to do it at minimum lets make it actually happen

No, that would be silly. People say the darnedest things.

Personally I think it's between the two users making the bet.