i've seen people gamble at the go club over at koreatown in LA before
i've heard that it wasn't just straight up Win/Loss

does anybody know the usual stipulations of the gamble?

The way I've seen it done is a certain amount (say, $5) for each 10-point difference. So a 3-point win would make you $5, a 13-point win makes you $10, etc.

Resignation usually has a fixed penalty. So if the resignation penalty is $20, you'd resign if you're behind by > 40 points, but anything less than that you should keep playing and minimize the margin of loss as much as you can.

When I've done this in the past, I've enjoyed the added goal of caring about the win margin. It can actually affect your plays and the amount of variance you try to introduce.

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The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain, and simple to express: Err, and err, and err again; but less, and less, and less!

The description is correct. It is called bang neki and is given in more detail in SL:

http://senseis.xmp.net/?BangNeki

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Haven't you watched Hikaru No Go?

amazingly, no i haven't, haha.

Or read the book, First Kyu?