San Francisco - BlueBet, a social wagering website where users bet on various topics using virtual currency, on Wednesday launched a public beta test of its service, and said it has received an undisclosed sum from backers including YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, Xoom co-founder Kevin Hartz, Flixter co-founder Joe Greenstein and Slide vice president Keith Rabois.

Menlo Park, Calif. - Sparter on Wednesday announced the public beta release of its online exchange that lets gamers trade virtual currencies for a range of massively multiplayer online games directly with one another. Gamer2Gamer currently supports titles including "World of Warcraft," "EverQuest," "Guild Wars," "Star Wars Galaxies" and "The Lord of the Rings Online." The company, which is headed by former THQ executive Dan Kelly and funded by Bessemer Venture Partners, said it is eliminating the middleman at other services that charge fees for virtual currency transfers.