The weirdest bets ever placed in the history of betting
ExpiredWe’ve covered some of the biggest bets in the history of gambling before, but in this article we take a deep dive into the sometimes wonderful, oftentimes wacky history of weird bets.
Some of the following stories will make you cringe at their sheer ridiculousness, while others will have you cheering the protagonist on. Either way you’re going to learn one thing about your fellow man and woman… when it comes to winning, we just can’t help ourselves.
In the spirit of fun that Fair Go is known for, we’d like to introduce you to the 10 of the weirdest bets ever placed. Prepare to laugh, weep and otherwise be entertained. These wagers will have you riding a rollercoaster of strange emotions.
Just remember if it gets too much, our good mate Kev thte Koala is always here to lend a helping paw.
The ugliest man in the world
Back in the 17th century there existed an English-born Swiss opera manager who was rumoured to be the most butt ugly individual that god ever put breath into. His reputation as being uglier than the south end of a northbound wombat was so significant, that many people came to visit the opera simply to cast eyes on this unfortunate looking soul.
One man by the name of Lord Chesterfield came away from one of these viewings betting that he could find someone who was uglier. So after bringing back a woman who he considered to be less attractive than the ugliest man in the world (that poor sheila), Lord Chesterfield believed he had won the bet.
At the last minute though the tables turned, and the opera manager stole the hat the lady was wearing and jammed it on his misshapen head. The sheer shock of seeing this apparently hideous man wearing a lady’s bonnet was enough to cause the lady to faint, making the opera manager the winner.
Suarez strikes bites again
An obscure wager hosted by a Norwegian gambling site backfired during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, leading to over 100 punters receiving massive payouts. The obscure bet in question was that Luis Suarez would bite someone during one of the World Cup matches… for the third time no less.
Suarez had already sunk his fangs into two people back in 2010 and 2013, which was enough to get people interested in the bet. When the dust had settled and evidence that Suarez had nibbled on an Italian player surfaced, the gambling site lost a small fortune. The odds were set at 175-1 after all.
The ultimate novelty bet
It widely known that there is no strategy for winning a novelty bet. There are just too many variables to influence whether or not it pays out. So unless you have a legit crystal ball or you’re a direct descendent of Nostradamus, novelty bets are the wagering equivalent of a stab in the dark.
That’s unless you’re the anonymous Welshman from this story who hedged a £40 5-fold accumulator back in 1989 on a number of things to stay the same up until the year 2000. These things were that Cliff Richard would be knighted, U2 would still be together and that EastEnders, Neighbours and Home and Away would still be on the air.
Well, just so happens that at the turn of the millennium this prophetic Welshman’s bet was a good as won. At the end of the day he walked away with over £250k. Talk about one of the strangest bets ever.
Tongue twisting Kiwi
We’ve already discussed what happens when you pull off a win on a weird bet, but what happens when you’re on the losing end? Well, if you’re this bloke from New Zealand, you have to change your name. And not to something silly like Señor Periwinkle or Gluteus Maximus either.
No, this Kiwi lost a bet and had to change his name to something that doesn’t just verge on the precipice of downright stupid, but instead gets a run up and throws itself in the abysses of idiocy. So, are you ready? The name he took on after coming up snake eyes was ‘Full Metal Havok More Sexy N Intelligent Than Spock And All The Superheroes Combined With Frostnova’.
Unlike his friends that pitched the name to him at the time, we’re utterly speechless. But then again, at least he wasn’t required to undergo reconstructive surgery in order to change his name… unlike the next fellow.
Breast of the best
We can’t write an article about the weirdest, wildest and strangest bets ever to be placed without mentioning Brian Zembic. Some of you may know Zembic due to his propensity for taking on ridiculous bets or for his success as a high-stakes gambler. In any case, by the end of the next paragraph, you’ll remember his name for something much more… er… memorable.
Zembic had lived in a box for a week at a time for a bet before. He’d also lived in a bathroom to win a wager. The thing that put him on ours (and the world’s) radar though was a bet he made in 1996 when sitting around a table with friends he was offered the opportunity to score $100K US for, get this, getting breast implants.
Of course, Zembic was never one to back down from a bet and he immediately followed through with the operation. He then had to keep them for a whole year, which he managed to do with surprising ease.
The real kicker though? So enamoured by his lovely lady lumps… ahem… man mounds was Zembic that he actually decided to keep them. Rumour has it that it may have been a pretty shrewd decision, given he’s made a small fortune off letting people have a squiz at them.
PDT: Public Display of Tasering
You’ve all heard of PDA, right? Otherwise known as ‘Public Display of Affection’, PDA is the act of showing your affections for your significant other in public. This term extends to kissing, a passionate embrace or even a sneaky bum pat. Pretty much anything that involves you and your loved one expressing your love for one another in a physical way.
PDT on the other hand is a little bit different. This term was coined by none other than Kev the Koala after he read about the Grants. Hailing from the USA, John and his wife Nicole backed two different NFL teams. Both of which happened to be facing each other in the final.
To electrify their relationship, a bet was put forward that whoever backed the losing team was to be tasered for 3 seconds by the winner. What could possibly go wrong with this strange bet…
John’s team the Chicago Bears won, Nicole’s team lost, John tased Nicole. Whether it was the alcohol, the throes of celebration or just the fact that John may not be all there, things presumably got out of hand.
It wasn’t long before Nicole called the police claiming that her husband had been attacking her with a taser. John was then promptly arrested for the felony possession of an electric weapon.
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