Unusual Action

Playing the ponies or laying odds on a college football game are fine, but what happens when the usual sportsbook wagers become too dull for words? You need to look for something out of the ordinary, and there are several online bookmakers out there willing to satisfy that craving with odds on things that would never have crossed most people’s minds. BetWWTS.com (www.betwwts.com) has a history of taking non-traditional wagers. One of the hottest movie tickets out there when this article was being written was the third installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Return of the Kings, and BetWWTS was laying odds on the film’s gross box office receipts, whether they would be bigger than those for the second film, Two Towers, and whether or not it would win Golden Globe or Oscar awards. Another big sportsbook, Intertops (www.intertops.com) takes bets on whether the winning number in the U.S. Powerball lottery will be odd or even. And if you’re feeling particularly inspired, you can even bet on the actual number. The site is also giving odds on who is going to be the next pope or whether new California Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger will be recalled before the next state election. But the hottest ‘non-traditional’ wagers going these days are on celebrities. Celebrity marriages, celebrity divorces, who is going to land a particular interview, and who is going to jail – or getting off. BeverlyHillsBookie.com (www.beverlyhillsbookie.com), which calls itself “The Upper Class of Offshore Sportsbooks,” considered giving odds on whether ABC’s The Bachelorette wedding would last before deciding it didn’t want to be part of something so negative. How noble. The biggest thing going right now for the oddsmakers with the 90210 name is media proposition bets – ‘gets’ in show-biz speak, as in who is going to get a one-on-one interview with a celebrity. Like, who is going to be the first to talk to Michael Jackson about the child abuse charges, or Nancy Reagan about the cancelled Reagan mini-series. My personal favorite has to be who is going to talk to former Liberian president, Charles Taylor. (Odds-on-favorite is Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes, if you’re interested.) And if you’re not, BeverlyHillsBookie offers lines on sporting events as well. But that seems kind of dull in comparison. Venturing off the beaten path can be a lot of fun and a good way to mix things up if you’re tired of the usual over / under wager. And if you can’t find a sportsbook with lines on your favorite oddity or the latest celebrity scandal, send an email to your favorite. Chances are that if you’re willing to put some cash on the line, someone else is as well.