A simple question, to which I'm interested to see the answers on here... I shall say no more until the poll closes.

Can't answer this one. Would depend on what the situation was that I was in.

Mathematics says go for the £10k gamble but I'd take the £1k.

Guaranteed 1k, definitely. If the odds of winning 10k were increased to, say, 30%, that would probably be enough to sway me.

Right, reviving this again after the poll closed. Of the seven that replied, five took the guaranteed £1,000. And, you may be surprised to learn, one of two who preferred a 20% chance of £10,000 was me.

This exact question was asked as part of research from the Office for National Statistics into wealth in Great Britain, with this question used to gauge attitudes to financial risk. Around 80% of those studied chose the guaranteed £1,000 in both 2006-8 and 2008-10 (the study involved two "waves" where people were interviewed over a two-year period, and then again two years later), although many people changed opinions over those two years (in particular, over two-thirds of people who would have rejected the certain £1,000 in the first wave then said they would accept it when asked again two years later, but a significant minority went the other way around too).

I would try for the £10,000 because it would have a substantial effect on my life (putting me on the brink of getting a deposit on a house - in fact, if I end up relocating for work later this year, and ironically enough it would be to the very same office that produced this study, I'd be already there with an extra £10,000) and £1,000 isn't a massively useful sum of money in my life right now. That said, I was not at all certain at the time I answered the question.

I can honestly say I expected the vast majority of respondents here to reject the certain £1,000, though. Just goes to show that certain people on here are either in the minority or they didn't read this thread.