Will FreeRice.com surpass 62,000,000,000 in grains of rice donated by Feb 1, 2009?

As of the end of December: 56,197,743,930. Since the site's inception, they've only had two months of over five billion grains.

There is not a prayer of reaching 62 000 000 000 at this point! I can't figure out why those of you who bet on it won't cash out the few bucks you can salvage and move on.....

maybe they did

If so, why is it not 99% No? When folks cash out, the rest of us who got it right can do the same and re-invest...

the totals link in the question is incorrect and gives a 404 error the correct link is http://www.freerice.com/totals.php

tuff_sledding - because cashing out works work both ways: If it's at 99%, people who bet correctly are also tempted to cash out and put their "money" in more profitable investments (rather than wait another week for a 1%), and when they do that the percentage again drops slightly.
So the percentages in "sure" bets (like this one and many others) will always settle on less than 100%, say 95-97%, depending on what return people expect from a "safe investment". If people expect a 3% return in a week, and a sure bet has a week until settlement with 92% odds, people won't invest in it because it will return just 2%, not 3%; So the odds tend to stay at exactly the tipping point.
So the odds of this bet is 97% when there is a week left, but may become 99% when there are just two days left (although I doubt this will ever happen - most people won't bother investing, not even for two days, for just 1% return).

I understand why nobody new would invest for the meager return, nyharel. But I thought that it would seem to make sense for the ones on the wrong side of the bet to salvage what they can, thus shifting the odds closer to 100%. But I see your point. If enough of us cash out our 97% bets, then the odds may shift slightly down and maybe the loser can salvage one or 2 more H$. Doesn't see worth it either. I say, everybody cash out and move on!