There's lots of fun to be had with the off-the-cuff entertainment betting odds. While sports is the most popular thing to bet on, many players like to dive into the realm of entertainment from time to time. Whether it’s the Oscar Awards, WWE or politics, sports bettors often deviate from the norm a little bit because there are all sorts of other fun things to bet on.
On this page, we’re going to dive into a few of the best options in terms of entertainment betting odds. Sportsbooks like BetOnline and Bovada do the best job with these, so if you’re looking for the off-the-cuff action, make sure you check out those shops.
Betting On Awards Shows
You can’t be talking about entertainment betting without speaking on awards shows. You are able to wager on a majority of major awards shows out there today such as the Oscars, Golden Globes, and the Grammys for example. Other shows such as the Emmys have their own betting options available as well. Let’s cover some of the best these events offer and some winners this year.
Oscars Awards Betting
The Oscars just recently passed back in March 2023 and featured a variety of awards. Overwhelming favorites were able to win in the Best Picture and Best Director category, with Everything Everywhere All At Once being the winners of both of those. That movie also stole the majority of other awards such as Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.
Simply put, if you wagered for this movie to win anything, there was a high chance that you could have won. They beat a few other stellar productions such as Top Gun: Mavericks and Marvel Studios Wakanda Forever.
Golden Globes Odds
The Golden Globes aired in January but had some issues regarding the gambling landscape leading up to this event. There were a few sportsbooks that didn’t back gambling for this year's event, which made betting options a tad harder to find than usual. However, they were still able to be placed, just at different sites than usual. Now, the Golden Globes featured a ton of talented winners throughout their event.
You can think of this event as a way to recognize excellence in film, essentially being a mashup of what you see from the Oscars and the Emmys. It’s a little more prestigious than either of those two events though, which separates it. The Golden Globes has garnered criticism over the years, though they were still able to announce a few winners such as HBO’s The White Lotus and ABC’S Abbot Elementary. Two of the biggest winners in the TV landscape.
Betting The Emmys Odds
The Emmys has a ridiculous amount of variety when it comes to placing wagers. In fact, they could be argued as the award show that offers the most range in options. A few examples are that they provide bets involving the actors/actresses, all forms of television series, directors, and writing. On top of that, each of those categories listed, has subcategories involving every single genre of television that you can think of. Subcategories like comedy, drama, and limited series are all examples of that.
If you’re looking to bet on the Emmys, be sure to focus your efforts on the TV landscape and what shows happen to be buzzing around the time of the event. In fact, it’s not uncommon for previous winners to stake their claim once again. For example, Modern Family won five straight years for Best Comedy Series and Game of Thrones collected so many awards that they are considered one of the best decorated series in television history.
Grammys
Where the Grammys differ from other awards shows like the Oscars, the Golden Globes, and the Emmys, is that it features music. Grammy awards are given out in celebration of the best music that has come around throughout the year. They cover popular artists and massive hits in the worldwide rankings. A big tip that always seems to be given out when gambling on the Grammys is that commercial success is a massive deal. The voters love to see albums break records and do great commercially rather than just gaining acclaim without commercial success behind it.
On top of that, the Pop genre of music has dominated the Album of the Year award in recent memory, with rap and rock in particular really struggling despite nominations. Taylor Swift is a great example of an artist to bet on as she’s won the Album of the Year award in recent memory and continues to have a ridiculously large following in the music industry.
Reality Television Betting Odds
When it comes to reality TV, there are a few shows that really stand out above the rest. In fact, the standouts of this genre of entertainment have dominated for years now with no signs of slowing down. Among those popular reality shows are The Bachelor, Survivor, and the Amazing Race. The Bachelor in particular has been going on for two decades now and continues to be one of the biggest hits in this category. Which is why we’ll be covering that show first.
The Bachelor
This reality tv show features a singular main character getting the chance to go on dates with a variety of people. The goal for the main character is that they get to go home having found the one person they want to be with for the rest of their lives. The main character will eliminate people as the show goes on throughout the season and the last person standing is likely to be proposed to. Just from the explanation, you can see why this show has garnered so much support over the years. It’s created a handful of spinoff shows and follows two completely different main characters in different shows.
The Bachelor follows a male main character with The Bachelorette featuring a female main character. Both are different shows entirely. If you’re looking to gamble on this show, you will be able to bet on the next person to get sent home or even little things such as what the main character is wearing at the end of the season when they propose.
Survivor
Survivor was another reality tv show that exploded onto the scene when it first aired over two decades ago. The main purpose of this show is that it gathers a group of strangers to compete against one another. Those strangers go onto an isolated island where they have to do basic things like build shelter, gather food, water, etc. Competitors are usually split into teams at the beginning before more and more contestants get eliminated. Then they start competing for themselves. They do challenges throughout the show for immunity from elimination and for rewards such as food, trips, and communication with loved ones. These competitors vote each other off when they aren’t able to win a challenge, and it’s usually where you’ll see alliances form.
When it comes to betting, you can obviously bet on the potential winner of the show, but you can also bet on things like teams who might win. The interesting thing with Survivor is that different sites offer different odds depending on how they view the show. It’s interesting to keep an eye on multiple sites for this one.
Amazing Race
Then finally, we have the Amazing Race. The premise is pretty self-explanatory, it’s a race. However, it’s got more to it than just that. There are teams of two from all over the globe racing against one another to certain points that they have to figure out off of clues they’re given. If a team is the last to arrive at a certain checkpoint, they are eliminated from the competition. The team that keeps reaching the checkpoints the fastest will end up making it to the finish line first and winning the competition.
There is a usual recommendation for this show that you should wait at least a singular episode before placing bets because you don’t know how each team will operate. In fact, teams consisting of one man and one woman happen to win over 50 percent of the time. If you’re looking to place bets, going for a team that is both male and female may help you out.
Various Movies & Television Show Betting Odds
There are clearly a significant number of movies and television shows that come out each year. And most of them gain significant popularity. Among those big and popular shows are Game of Thrones and The Sopranos, just to name a few. These two shows have had major betting implications over the years.
For Game of Thrones, many people would consistently gamble on which character would be the next to die. This happened throughout most oof the shows' run while the massive finale garnered different types of bets. Bets on things like what main character would die, who would sit on the Iron Throne, and even wagers stating that the writers would change their minds on how it ended and add another season. The show might be over at the moment, but there are still spinoff shows releasing in the Game of Thrones universe that have taken up just as much attention, if not more, on release.
The same can be stated with the Sopranos, as people were able to make bets on the show's finale and how it would all tie together. The Sopranos shouldn’t be as surprising considering that gambling was prominent throughout their show, with sports bets being placed quite frequently.
Then nowadays, you have Stranger Things being one of the biggest and most popular television shows of all-time. Bets being made of which main character will die, will any of the shows previously dead characters make a cameo in the current season, what episode will Eleven and Hopper reunite, then finally when will Eleven get her powers back. These are all just a few of the many betting options that were made available when season 4 was ramping up for their release. With Season 5 now out on the horizon, there is a strong chance that these options will return at full strength when the time comes. Given that it might be the final season that the show airs, the popularity will be through the roof.
There isn’t going to be a better time to bet on a television show than when you can catch the finale of a record-breaking series just like Breaking Bad, Sopranos, and Game of Thrones. Plus, there are a few easier bets that have popped up regarding this show, with one of t hem questioning if anybody on the show will play Dungeons and Dragons at least once. For example, there was a site that had “yes” being listed at –5000 odds for that to happen.
Miscellaneous
There’s more to betting than just the previously mentioned subjects though. Here we have the miscellaneous section, which features a few different betting opportunities for you to dive into. These range from sporting events such as the WWE, to eating contests, to the presidential election. Let’s start by talking about the biggest eating contest around in the United States right now.
Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest
Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest has generated a lot of popularity over the years thanks to some of their competitors. The basic rules in this competition are exactly what you would expect. Contestants have to eat as many hots dogs as they can within the 10-minute time limit provided to t hem. They have to keep them down as well. You aren’t allowed to throw up, then continue eating. If you do vomit, you are immediately disqualified from the game.
One strategy that has done wonders lately is soaking their hot dogs in water to soften up the bread first. You can only soak them for five seconds, but it does provide a major impact on the outcome. You can’t use condiments on the hot dogs nor can you use beer or a different type of alcohol to help push it down. If the timer ends and two people are locked in a tie, they will go head-to-head in what is called an eat-off. There are just five hot dogs on each plate and whoever gets five down first wins. If there’s another die, they will repeat one-dog sudden death rounds. Recent winner Joey Chestnut is a consistent favorite to win these competitions as he seems to have it down to a science.
He just broke the record in 2021 for hot dogs eaten at 76. He also won the 2022 event as well, his 15th victory in this competition.
WWE Wrestling Odds
The WWE has picked up criticism since they’ve started to allow bets to be placed on the WWE. Mostly because many, if not all, of their events are known to be scripted behind the scenes. That would mean a person could leak that script and then win every bet possible due to knowing the outcome. However, thanks to nobody leaking a script in the past, there’s confidence that it wouldn’t happen with betting legalized. This means that it’s still allowed to place bets on these events, and what you think might happen.
WWE bets usually keep things simple for their audience, you’ll see a lot of bets regarding who might win a match, a tournament, or a title. There are other prop bets such as who might win the first match, who might make an appearance, how many times somebody will be thrown out of the ring, or how long they might stay in the ring. Then finally, you can bet on who gets disqualified from any competition or who can eliminate the most wrestlers when competing in the Royal Rumble competition. For fans of the WWE, there’s no limit in betting options for you to lose track of.
Odds On Politics
This might be surprising to some people but yes, you are able to place bets on politics. It doesn’t matter where you live, chances are that some form of political betting options are available to you on a variety of different sites. If you’re looking to get into political betting, you have a ton of options straight away.
You can wager on the presidential elections in the United States, congressional races, party primaries and other government races. It’s become so much more popular since Donald Trump was able to take down Hillary Clinton in the presidential race back in 2016. It proved to people that the pollsters and the media weren’t as reliable and factual as previously thought, opening the door for upsets to happen.
When betting sites hear that upsets are possible, wagers can start flowing in now that it’s not just a guarantee of which party/candidate will win. Though that’s United States politics, you are able to bet on other countries as well. You can gamble on French and UK politics as well. UK sites usually try and cover the London mayoral election and the next potential leaders of their parties. French sites usually have theirs on the presidential election similar to the United States. However, they use a two-round presidential election system, which factors into the way that betting options are set up in France.
