These days one can bet on almost anything: from whether it will snow on Christmas day, to which volcano will erupt next, to outcomes in worldwide presidential elections. While these may seem rather random and whilst you may be wondering what would prompt people to bet on such things, you may be rather surprised to find out that these are rather normal compared to some of the things that people have wagered bets on in the past and will wager bets on in the future.
Another less unusual example is Prince George. Whilst he was still safely ensconced in his mother’s womb, bets were being placed against whether the royal baby would be a boy or a girl, what his/her name would be and what date he would be born on. Just when you think the betting public’s attention is off the prince, you realise it has only just begun and is picking up momentum. Since then betting has opened on what his first word would be, when his first overseas visit will take place, which school he will attend and even when his first tooth will appear!
Moving focus away from the royals, there have been plenty more unusual bets. Have you ever wondered if and when alien life will be proven? Well, 2013 received 25/1 odds, 2014 received 80/1 odds, 2015 received100/1 odds and 2016 received 100/1 odds too. Will the existence of alien life be announced this year? We will just have to wait and see, but frankly one has a far greater chance of hitting jackpotJoy than E.T. returning to use the telephone.
Something that has grown in popularity over the years is betting on reality television shows. If you’re a reality junkie and can’t get enough, now you can put your money where your mouth is and vote on who will be the ultimate survivor, who will received a marriage proposal at the end of the series and who will literally dance their ass off.
Then there are those who accept dares and place bets on whether or not they will be able to fulfil the said challenge, sometimes at great danger to themselves, but they do it anyway. Take the man who bet $50,000 that he could stay in the ocean for 18 hours. He only lasted for 3. Then there was the poker player who put his wife up for collateral – and lost. Needless to say his wife divorced him.
As long as there are eager gamblers and resourceful bookmakers, we are bound to see a myriad of strange bets being placed. Whilst many of the bets may not be practical or even ethical, they certainly do deserve a gold star for thinking outside the box.
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