Online Entertainment (Prop) Betting
If you’ve been frequenting some of the major online sportsbooks for a while, you’ve probably already noticed that the betting opportunities offered by those sites aren’t really exclusively about sports. In fact, most online sportsbooks allow you to wager your hard-earned money on the outcome of a wide range of non-sporting events, particularly when it comes to entertainment and politics. As you’d expect, the number of available markets isn’t really comparable with popular sports like basketball, baseball, or soccer.
Best Sites to Bet on TV & Politics
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As a result, you shouldn’t expect a lot of action if you decide to sign-up with a sports betting site specifically with celebrity-related wagers in mind. However, entertainment-related proposition bets allow you to earn some additional cash while adding to the excitement of watching your favorite TV shows or following important elections, which makes them an excellent choice for bettors looking for a chance to take a break from high-profile league games.
Ways to Bet Real Money on Entertainment
Betting on politics and entertainment is no different from betting on traditional sports when it comes to basic rules. Most of the available props are simple money lines that should be familiar to anyone who ever wagered on a soccer or football match, which means that you won’t have to learn the ins and outs of any new wager types in order to take advantage of the additional betting opportunities. In fact, most sites don’t even bother with offering complex multi-selection bets.
However, you should keep in mind that some of those props are listed well in advance of the actual events. This means that investing too much money might tie up your funds for prolonged periods of time, making them unavailable for other types of wagers.
Entertainment Betting Odds
Most online sportsbooks that offer entertainment bets allow you to pick between the European and American odds, but it’s still fairly important to understand how each of those methods of displaying them works. The fractional and decimal odds are fairly simple and provide you with information on how much money you can win in relation to the amount of money you have to invest. Consequently, fractional price of 3/2 means that you can win $150 for every $100 you bet. In decimal odds, this price would be listed as 1.50.
American odds on the other hand are listed with an integer and have been designed to help you discern between the underdog and the favorite. An underdog line is always marked with a plus sign, which means that you have to risk $100 for a shot at claiming the amount of money displayed on the site. Conversely, a favorite line is always marked with a minus sign, which means that you have to risk the listed amount for a chance to win $100.
Betting on TV Shows and Celebrities
Wagering on TV shows, music, and celebrities is a relatively new phenomenon, but that doesn’t stop thousands of gamblers from betting on a wide range of local and international contests, which can range from predicting the winner of the American Idol to guessing who will be awarded the Oscars or Golden Globes this year.
It’s important to keep in mind that while entertainment or reality TV bets are very easy to place, the money you risk is still very real. Consequently, you should never forget to do your research before investing any money – the information concerning all the individuals involved should be readily available on the TV, in the newspapers or on the internet. Making informed decisions is the difference between turning profit and losing money in the long term, even if the things you’re betting on aren’t actually all that serious.
Furthermore, you should keep in mind that each sportsbook offers a different selection of entertainment and celebrity-related props, which means that you should probably register on more than one site if you’d like to focus on placing bets of this kind.
Betting on Politics and the Stock Market
Many people tend to believe that betting on politics is all about predicting the outcome of the next presidential election, but fortunately the range of politics and business-related props is wider than that. For example, multiple sports betting sites give you an opportunity to wager on business futures, allowing you to put your money on both global markets, oil, gold or exchange rates. As briefly touched on above, many of those bets are going to tie up your money for prolonged periods of time, which means that you should be fairly conservative about investing in those props.
On the bright side, this problem is often compensated by excellent odds, which allow you to get a massive return on each of those bets as long as your predictions were right. Another advantage of placing politics and business-related bets is the amount of sure bets you’re going to find. Quite obviously, the odds on those lines will be lower, but they’re an excellent way to earn some money without actually exposing your gambling funds to a lot of risk.
Making a Deposit and Cashing Out
Online sportsbooks tend to support e-wallet and credit card payments, which means that you shouldn’t have any problems with funding your on-site account via your PayPal or Visa card. In addition, many sites accept Western Union and MoneyGram deposits, but keep in mind that you might be subject to some transaction fees in that case. All deposits are usually processed instantly, which means that you should be able to start betting almost as soon as you create your account.
Withdrawals on the other hand usually take a few days, as most sites will have to verify your request before accepting the transaction. In addition, many sportsbooks will require you to cash out using the same method you used to make a deposit, particularly when requesting your first payout.
Whenever that’s not possible, most sites will default to sending your winnings via a bank wire transfer or check by courier. Finally, you should keep in mind that e-wallet banking isn’t available for US-based due to the legal restrictions that were placed on payment processors by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.