Time pots

[DrewOnTilt]

I just moved up to 20/40 live and was recently introduced to the concept of a time pot. One player at the table pays the entire table's time charge ($70 at the Borgata 20/40). The first two pots to exceed 5BB become "time pots," and the winner is required to pay $35 to the person who posted the time. If no pot reaches 5BB before the next time collection, then the poster eats the time charge.

This is apparently a common practice. For the life of me, I can't understand the point of it. Can someone explain what the advantage of it is, especially why someone would run the slight risk of losing $70 for no apparent gain?

It was nice to not have to post time when I was card dead, but I noticed that having to pay the time pot reduces drawing odds. If there are 4BB in the pot on the turn and I have an open ended straight draw, then calling a bet would trigger the time pot and effectively reduce the pot size by almost a full big bet.