伯克希爾·哈撒韋公司（Berkshire Hathaway）的NCAA（全國大學體育協會）瘋狂競猜獎金遠遠高于一般競猜活動。

就像過去幾年一樣，伯克希爾·哈撒韋董事長兼首席執行官沃倫·巴菲特每年將給成功預測甜蜜16強名單的員工獎勵100萬美元，中獎者可終身領取獎金。今年，瘋狂三月的獎勵政策比以往更為誘人。巴菲特表示，如果家鄉內布拉斯加州的球隊挺進甜蜜16強，獎金翻番。

對于巴菲特來說，這幾乎是場必勝的賭注。去年，娛樂體育節目電視網ESPN收到1,880萬份競猜單，最終僅18人猜對16強隊伍。巴菲特的瘋狂競猜已進行了四年，還沒人能將終極大獎抱回家。

以下是過去幾年的競猜活動簡介。

2014年

這是巴菲特瘋狂競猜的第一年，公眾也可以參加，獎金由伯克希爾·哈撒韋公司和快速貸款公司（Quicken Loans）提供。這一年，巴菲特開出10億美元，獎給猜對所有比賽勝負的人，不過最后沒人得到這筆巨額獎金。之后的訴訟案件揭露，雅虎曾退出合同，舉辦了類似的競猜活動。

2015年

2014年的競猜產生法律糾紛，導致2015年的活動化為泡影，粉絲對此極為失望，因為巴菲特曾說希望2015年的競猜能夠比較容易獲獎。

2016年

2016年，巴菲特的瘋狂競猜強勢回歸，不過僅限供職伯克希爾·哈撒韋及其子公司的30多萬員工參加。巴菲特不再向成功預測所有比賽勝負的人一次性支付10億美元獎金，而是給猜對甜蜜16強隊伍的中獎者每年獎勵100萬美元（可終身領取），或給正確預測勝負場次最多的參加者獎勵10萬美元。兩名伯克希爾員工，來自USLI保險公司的凱文·威爾士和伯克希爾旗下蓋可保險公司（Geico）羅伯特·凱勒成功預測了前15場比賽勝負，平分了10萬美元大獎。

2017年?

去年的競猜活動與之前一樣：正確預測所有16強隊伍的參加者每年都能得到100萬美元，可終身領取；猜對勝負場次最多的參加者獲10萬美元獎金。西弗吉尼亞州的一位鋼鐵工人德維恩·約翰遜距終極大獎僅一步之遙：他正確預測了前32場比賽中的31場。最后，他贏得了猜對勝負場次最多的10萬美元獎金。（財富中文網）

譯者：嚴匡正?

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.