There is no "just talk" when it comes to making a bet. If you confirm that you really mean it - you mean it.
Matthew Wright got a scammer tag for something similar.
With that said, I wouldn't take any bet as a real thing until escrow was achieved. A person should stick to their word though.
He quoted T.Stuart's post indicating that he accepted the "gentleman's agreement" to send the 1BTC without escrow at the cutoff.
At the very least, he should get a scammer tag, as Matthew did. Otherwise where's the consistency?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178336.msg4376376#msg4376376Though as far as I can tell he's had an extra 24 hours over his originally stated cutoff anyway, so he's quite late paying up
