5 of the Most Bizarre Gambles You Can Make — And 2 Bets That Paid Off Big
Las Vegas is known as a city where anything can happen, and that's particularly true when it comes to gambling, whether or not you win big and end up wealthy.
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Casinos are notorious for offering endless types of creative wagers that are designed to stimulate more 'action' from the betting public. In most cases, the odds on these bizarre wagers heavily favor the house, but that doesn't prevent gamblers from taking their shot on these so-called 'proposition' bets.
For those willing to take a chance in the online world, even more outlandish proposition bets are available. Here's a sample of some of the strangest wagers you can make in Las Vegas — and elsewhere — along with some famous examples of gamblers who hit it big taking a chance on an obscure bet.
And if you happen to come into a windfall, from gambling or otherwise, avoid these disastrous financial mistakes.
Believe it or not, Las Vegas sportsbooks have regulations and are generally only permitted to offer wagers on statistically verifiable events. Some of the most popular — especially for the Super Bowl — include the following:
Which team will score first
What the first scoring play will be
Which team will call the first timeout
Although some of these bets are technically 50/50 propositions — like which team will score first or call the first timeout — Vegas sportsbooks typically shave the line in their favor and/or charge vigorish. Also known as the 'juice,' the vig often requires you to put up $105 or $110 to win $100 on proposition bets such as these.
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Some of the most obscure wagers are not available at Las Vegas sportsbooks — but that doesn't make them any less popular.
One of the most popular bets on the Super Bowl is the over/under for the national anthem. While certainly a frivolous wager, it's a quite popular one.
According to The New York Times, as written, the national anthem should be sung in just 79 seconds. But as the Super Bowl is as much a performance stage for the artist singing the national anthem as it is for the football players, that time is usually extended. In fact, from 2014 through 2024, seven of 11 performers broke the two-minute mark.
Perhaps that is why online sportsbooks set the line for Jon Batiste's 2025 performance at 120.5 seconds. And how did the artist do? Over bettors must have been exceedingly disappointed that the performance officially came in at 120 seconds on the nose, John Ewing of BetMGM announced in an X post.
As random as the time of the national anthem is as a wager, it's far from alone in terms of odd Super Bowl bets. In recent years, a popular proposition wager at some online casinos has been which color of Gatorade will get dumped on the winning coach at the end of the game.
Various regulations prevented major Las Vegas casinos from accepting wagers on who would become the next pope. However, this didn't stop bettors from wagering over $40 million online as to the identity of the next Pontiff, according to CNBC Make It.
And for some bettors, this was a highly profitable speculation. Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was listed at 100-1 before he assumed the title of Pope Leo XIV, garnering at least two bettors more than $50,000 in profits, according to the New York Post.
Las Vegas resident Brian Zembic bet a friend $100,000 that he would get 38C breast implants and keep them for at least one year. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Zembic not only collected on his wager 366 days after he made it, he still has the breast implants to this day.
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