Online sports betting enthusiasts may be astonished to realize that a surprising number of bets are placed on oddball sports all over the world, including ones you would never have heard of.
In the United States, sports betting on the NFL, NBA, NHL, college sports, and a slew of other events can now be done easily through online betting platforms, from the comfort of your own home or on the go. According to The Sports Daily, best online sportsbooks provide large introductory bonuses and many more useful information for anyone looking to start their betting journey!
Racing in a Harness
Harness racing is similar to horse racing in that it requires a horse and a rider. The jockey in harness racing rides in a two-wheeled cart rather than on the back of the horse. Strange? Yes. Any real money on the line? The answer is a resounding yes!
While this sport may appear archaic, it’s really highly popular, especially in Sweden and Finland, where the sport relies only on sports betting to stay afloat.
Cornhole
Using a 16-ounce bag of corn kernels and slanted platforms known as “dummy” boards, teams compete to throw the kernels through the holes drilled into the slanted platforms. While a bag of corn that falls on the board is for just one point, one in the hole is worth three points. The side with the most points at the end of the game wins.
American Cornhole League was formed in 2015 to promote the sport of cornhole, giving an app that maintains and publishes league, tournament, and event information and of course betting odds for the game.
With team names like Game of Throws, Natural Corn Killers, We So Corny, and Breaking Bags! The Shekou Cornhole Federation in Hong Kong issued a list of odds for its forthcoming cornhole tournament in 2015, which came in as one of the funniest gambling papers ever seen.
Tossing of Cow Chips
To find out who can toss a dried piece of cow dung the farthest in Beaver, Oklahoma, where cows outnumber humans 16 to 1, the World Championship Cow Chip Throwing Contest has been held annually since 1970.
A 6-inch diameter chip is required, and each player is allowed two tosses. The winner is the person who threw the furthest. Licking your fingertips in between throws is thought to improve your grip and bring good fortune… However, we would probably simply believe what the expert said.
Tossing a dung chip 188 feet and 6 inches was a contest record for 28-year-old Beaver resident Drew Russell in 2015. Sportsbooks in your area may not provide the odds for this particular event, but the locals who do gamble on it have a blast!
Curling
For those who have never heard of curling, it is an Olympic sport in which participants use a stone to slide over an ice sheet toward a target location known as the “house.” It is similar to playing bowls on a sheet of ice. The two teams of four players each have eight hefty, polished granite stones, and each player gets two chances to slide the stones. The stones that land closest to the house’s center gain the most points. As a result of the rule allowing teams to knock their opponents’ stones out of the way, curling may become a dogfight!
The language and regulations of this game make it difficult to place a bet on it. Dedicated gamblers are unaffected, but the rest of us may be put off.
Quidditch
Quidditch (or Muggle Quidditch, based on the Harry Potter books) has been modified for fans to play in the real world. Sadly, there are no flying broomsticks or magic “snitch” in this game, but broomsticks do appear!
On a hockey-sized field, two teams of seven to 21 players each compete in Quidditch, which is played with three hoops of differing heights at either end of the field. The object of the game is to collect more points than the other team before the snitch (a tennis ball in a long sock hanging from the shorts of a yellow official) is caught. Players sprint with a broomstick between their legs. Getting the quaffle (a deflated volleyball) through the hoops of the opposite team earns you points. The International Quidditch Association oversees the competition, and sports betting lines for the match first debuted in 2011!
Roll the Dice, Cut the Cake, or Ro-Sham-Bo
For those who believed it was a light-hearted game played among friends to decide who gets the final slice of pizza, they were wrong. “Rock, paper, scissors” (or “Ro-sham-bo,” depending on where in the world you grew up) is a serious strategy game. If you’ve been living under a rock, this game requires two players simultaneously select one of three hand signals – rock, paper, or scissors – and the outcome is decided by the following rules: rock beats scissors, paper beats scissors, and rock beats rock. If both players send out the same signal, a tie is possible.)
Rock, paper, scissors players and spectators are firmly convinced that the game is a sport in every sense of the word. If you are in Europe, Canada, or the United States, there’s a World Championship that is held every year, where betting has become a part of everyday life.
Final Thoughts
Basketball, baseball, tennis, and soccer are other popular selections for gamblers, which is understandable. Some Americans, on the other hand, choose to gamble on sports that aren’t as common as football or basketball.
