There’s Nothing Odd about Novelty Betting

I’ve been betting on American Idols this week, in the hope that my favorite, Lauren Alaina will take the title.  The odds are against her, unfortunately, and everyone is convinced that Scotty McCreery will win the tenth season of this song contest.  A couple of my friends seem to think that I’m wasting my time hitting the novelty betting section at sports books sites, preferring to spend time at great online casinos instead, but for those of you who know me already, I’m a huge fan of special bets as they allow me to keep up to date with current affairs, the latest TV shows and celebrity gossip, and still make some cash in the process.

Odds have always something that fascinates me and I’m always using them in my day to day life. I even used statistics to help me get over my fear of flying way back then, after I learned that I only had a one in a million chance of being involved in a plane emergency (not even a crash) in my lifetime.

So what are the strangest odds I’ve come across in my time?

• The odds of a meteor crashing into my home – one in 182,138,800,000,000
• The odds of being struck by lightening – one in 587,000
• Odds of being injured from mowing the lawn – one in 3,554
• Odds of drowning in the bathtub – one in 693,000
• Odds of winning an Olympic gold medal – one in 655,000
• Odds of becoming a murder victim – one in 19,000
• Odds of twins being born – one in 19
• Odds of marrying a millionaire – one in 220
• Odds of seeing a UFO today – one in 3,200,000
• Odds of being executed for capital murder – one in 3,221,700
• Odds on becoming a saint – one in 22,540,000
• Odds of being killed by a shark – one in 300 million
• Odds of giving birth to a genius – one in 265
• Odds of dating a super model – one in 89,200

So basically, I’m being told that I have the same chance of being executed as I have of seeing a UFO today. Or I have 10 times more chance of siring twins than I have of my kids being geniuses (yikes!). Or I never have to be afraid of going too far out on my surfboard because the chances of being killed by a shark are negligent…. Didn’t I tell you that novelty betting makes for fascinating stuff??