From AP via CTV.ca:

Nigel Eccles, a news junkie and former online betting site employee, wanted to try pursuing both interests at once.

Thus was born Hubdub -- a new website Eccles and three colleagues in Edinburgh, Scotland, assembled -- where customers will bet for fun, not money, on the outcomes of real news stories. ...

Eccles, who has worked on business strategy at Johnston Press PLC, a major regional newspaper publisher in the U.K., said he saw how exciting sports betting could be when he worked at Flutter, a European online betting exchange that was sold to Betfair, an Internet wagering site.

The problem was, he didn't enjoy following sports.

"I do, however, follow technology and politics," Eccles said in a phone interview. "Sometimes I'll read an article and think, 'Hey, that's totally wrong.'"

And he often wondered how news stories about pending events turned out in the end.