Top Five Novelty Bets

You can bet on almost anything these days and that is backed up by some of the markets offered in the novelty betting at Oddschecker, with examples such as reality TV, celebrities, Royal Family and politics. This is a serious subject and many punters are not taking these markets seriously enough. There has been some stunning mega novelty bet wins down the years and we will highlight five of the biggest and weirdest.

The 5 Event Accumulator

Back in 1989, a man from Wales asked for the odds of five separate events happening before the end of the century. Those events were Cliff Richard to be knighted, Neighbours and Home and Away had to still be shown on UK TV screens, EastEnders still had to be shown on UK TV and the rock band U2 still had to be active. All of these events came to pass and this £30 accumulator paid out a whopping £194,400 defying odds of nearly 6500-1.

Betting on Family Members

One proud granddad called Peter Edwards placed £50 on the fact that his own grandson would one day play for the Wales national team at football. He was offered odds of 2500-1 and in 2013, this bet came to pass when his grandson Harry Wilson was selected to play for Wales in a crucial World Cup qualifier against Belgium. This selection netted the winner £125,000 from his £50 wager.

The Strange Football Bet

The year was 2006 and one football fan decided to have the most unusual wager. He asked for odds on a Liverpool midfielder scoring a goal from his own half of the pitch at some stage during the season. He was quoted odds of 125/1 and he duly bet £200. During the season, Xavi Alonso scored from his own half in a game against Luton Town and this lucky punter won an amazing £25,000.

Keeping abreast of the Situation

When it comes to fantasy bets, you don't really get much stranger than this next example. It was 1997 and one Canadian punter bet on themselves to not only get breast implants, but to actually keep them for a full year. So what's the big deal? The big deal is that the person in question was a man called Brian Zembic from Toronto in Canada. He not only got the implants and kept them for a year but he still has them to this day. For the record, Zembic won a huge sum of $100,000.

Getting your Teeth into it

We all like to chew on something nice but few of us ever chew on another human being. This was the strange bet being offered by Betsson in 2014 that the Uruguay player Luis Suarez would at some stage of the 2014 World Cup take a bite out of an opponent. Now Suarez had a history of biting opponents and so the bet had some validity.

They offered odds of 175/1 and over one hundred punters in Norway placed numerous wagers on this actually happening. Sure enough Suarez took a chunk out of an opponent in a match against Italy and the betting firm were forced to pay out tens of thousands of dollars to their amazed but happy customers.

Betting firms are becoming increasingly active with novelty betting. They are also aware of the fact that some punters may be privy to inside information as well. It is clearly the case that many novelty bets can be manipulated to a large extent and betting firms factor that in with regards to the odds that they offer. It still remains the case however that the novelty betting market is a fast and growing one in the betting industry.

Author bio

Carl Sampson is a full time professional poker player, coach and writer. He is also an ex-croupier and professional card counter. With years of experience at both gaming and sports betting, Carl shares his knowledge with us.