If one thing remains constant, it’s the love of gambling. People have bet on sporting events and different games of chance for years, and little has changed in the three millennium or so of recorded human history. While gambling has many restrictions in place to protect the interests of both citizens and tax collectors, there are plenty of weird things that are completely legal to bet on.
You don’t need to be Catholic to bet on who the next Pope will be. My Bookie, a popular betting site, has a current pool going of who is likely to become the next Pope. Even though Pope Francis is still alive, Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle seems to be the best bet for his replacement among those bidding.
While this next game of chance is extremely morbid, you can legally bid on celebrity deaths, or at least when you think that these deaths will occur. Created by Doug Stanhope, the Celebrity Death Pool awards points to those who guess correctly. With those points, the winner is able to pick out prizes.
Think you’ve bid on every sport imaginable? Think again. In Gloucester, a region of England, cheese rolling is the name of the game. Competitors race to see who can roll a large chunk of cheese to the finish line the quickest. Betting on cheese rolling is legal in the UK, and has become a beloved pastime.
While we’re on the subject of bizarre sports, wife carrying is another sport you can place a bet on. Hailing from Ireland, wife carrying is essentially what the name suggests. A man picks up his woman (though it doesn’t have to be his wife) down an obstacle course that stretches 253 meters. Whichever couple reaches the finish line first is deemed winner. Bookies flock to these events to take bets on who will win the race.
If you’re a political whiz, anything related to Kim Jong Un is always a popular thing to gamble on in the realm of online betting. There is currently a pool betting on when Kim Jong Un will cease to be leader of North Korea and what will cause him to lose his power.
If murderous dictators wasn’t dark enough for you, the end of the world is frequently bid on. Paddy Power, an online gambling site, allows you to place bets on when you think the world will end, albeit you won’t see your winnings.
