Vegas is the only place where legal wagers can be made on almost any topic, as long as the book offers the proposition bet. Gamblers love to place their money on bizarre chances, especially during Super Bowl. The Supreme Court has lifted the ban on sports betting. This means that there may be more unusual bets offered by states that have sportsbooks. Vegas is not the only place where It can make bizarre wagers. The U.K. also participates in the fun.
Here are some of the weirdest, most bizarre, and wackiest bets ever been made.
1979: Jackie Gaughn, the late owner of the El Cortez Hotel in downtown Vegas, offered odds that the U.S. satellite Skylab would crash into Earth. It was a 5/1 chance that it would crash in one of the five oceans. 12/1 into the Soviet Union. 100/1 on California soil. 2,000/1 for a hit on tiny Rhode Island. 10,000/1, it would crash into El Cortez. Instead, it landed in Australia on 30/1.
1980: From the T.V. series Dallas: “Who shot J.R.?” The Castaways Hotel offered wagers with odds on each cast member before the season ended. However, the Gaming Control Board stopped all betting as someone must have a script.
1981: Amid the ongoing controversy about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy’s body, the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald was being exhumed in order to verify his identity. Union Plaza’s sportsbook quickly took up the proposal about whose body would go in the coffin. There were three options: Jack Ruby (Oswald’s assassin), a Soviet agent, and an empty coffin. The gaming commission placed a cap on the wager due to concern about its virtue. It turned out that it was Oswald.
It was 500/1 in the U.K. that The FBI would confirm elvis. Another 500/1 was that Michael and LaToya are the same.
Bookmakers in the U.K. also offered 1,000/1 that Tiger Woods would be elected President of the United States and 5,000/1 that Bill Clinton would marry Monica, Lewinsky.
Matthew Trumbull, a London resident, placed a 1,000,000/1 bet that the world would end by 2000. If he lived, then who would pay him? The man’s name is not intended to be punned.
Super Bowl Week in Vegas sees $ million being tossed across betting terminals to bet on your favorite team and other odd bits. These are some past Super Bowl prop bets.
- Will Kelly Clarkston misspell or misunderstand any words in the National Anthem song? What is the time it will take for her to sing it? Over/Under 1 minute, 34 seconds. When she sings the song, will her naked belly be visible?
- Will Quarterback, Tom Brady’s son, be shown on T.V. during the game wearing a Tom Brady Jersey
- How many times will Patriots owner Robert Kraft appear on television during the game?
- What is the first touchdown celebration? A ball spike, a dance on the ground, a Tim Tebow kneel, or kiss a cheerleader are some examples of what could be done.
- Which color will Gatorade be poured on the winning team’s coach? Yellow, orange, clear, red, green, blue? (Yellow was the most popular.
- Who will the Super Bowl MVP first thank in his post-game interview with reporters? The Super Bowl MVP will thank his teammates, God, coach, family, and the owner. (Teammates were the favorite.
There you have it. What are the odds of us making some crazy wagers for the Super Bowl? We’ll have to wait and see.
Las Vegas: A playground of possibilities where the human spirit revels in its penchant for the unpredictable. While the city echoes with the clinking of chips and the spinning of roulette wheels, there’s a subset of gambles that defy logic: proposition bets. These aren’t your usual high-stakes games; these are bets on the wild, wacky, and downright bizarre.
Take, for instance, 1994. The early murmurings of the internet era were emerging. However, skepticism loomed large, prompting an audacious bet in the glitzy heart of Vegas. Some daring soul took on 10,000/1 odds, proclaiming the internet as just a fleeting trend that would fizzle out by the 2000s. Fast forward to today, and well, we know who had the last laugh there.
Then, as the 20th century neared its end, the Y2K frenzy gripped the globe. Fearful whispers of a tech apocalypse swirled, leading Vegas to offer a juicy 5/1 that the dawn of 2000 would herald major upheavals thanks to the Y2K bug. A few hiccups aside, the New Year rang in rather uneventfully.
But not all bets are centered on potential global cataclysms. Enter 2015, the year the Star Wars saga awakened once more. A certain UK bookie, perhaps a little too entranced by the Force, offered a tantalizing 10/1 on the movie eclipsing Avatar’s box-office collection. Despite its smashing success, The Force Awakens couldn’t clinch this particular title.
Speaking of titles, come 2016, the world was captivated by Pokemon Go. Vegas, never one to miss a trend, gamely posed a question: which celeb would stumble—quite literally—while playing this game? Names like Bieber and Kardashian surfaced, each accompanied by their respective odds.
Leapfrogging into our tech-savvy age, the duel between virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) has sparked debates, discussions, and yes, bets. Which will reign supreme by the decade’s end? Place your bets now!
Yet, it’s not all fun and games. The grave matter of environmental changes hasn’t escaped the eagle-eyed oddsmakers. A notable wager revolved around the Arctic’s ice status come 2020. A testament to the times, this bet reflected global concerns and consciousness.
However, a note of caution: prop bets, in all their zany glory, are still gambles. The allure of winning big on a quirky outcome might be tantalizing, but tread with care. The bright lights of Vegas shine with stories of fortunes made and lost. As you peruse the intriguing bets on offer, remember: sometimes, the real thrill lies not in winning, but in the sheer audacity of the bet itself. So, as you wander amidst the glittering facades, perhaps, just perhaps, you might risk a coin on the next outlandish twist of fate. What’s life, after all, if not a bit of a gamble?
