The industry of gambling has assumed massive global proportions and has generated a revenue of $150 billion over the last year. Numerous websites are dominating over the Internet and grabbing space for a casino, poker and betting on sports. The websites are proving fascinating and have given rise to an entire new industry in the form of online betting comparison sites. However, the fascination does not prove sufficient for some people who are not satisfied simply on betting about which player will come out at the top on whether the favored team will be on the winning side. Sometimes they just take it a step further back some of the top 5 most bizarre bets. Which are the bets we are talking about?
The $10,000 Burger Challenge
In the world of poker, the name of Howard Lederer stands apart from the rest. This American professional poker player has a couple of World Series poker titles to his credit and has earned over $5,900,000 simply by taking part in live tournaments of poker. However, his hunger for winning tournaments was nothing compared to his love for food and the overweight Lederer was advised by his doctors either to get a gastric band and become a vegan or be prepared to go to the grave early. Lederer accepted the advice and lost 75 pounds but also noticed an opportunity to make some quick money. David Gray a fellow gambler offered Lederer a princely sum of $10,000 for refusing to eat a cheeseburger, which unfortunately he did not and won the $10,000.
A Gamble Against Cancer
An opportunity to make some serious money was noticed by John Matthews when he was diagnosed with cancer. The medical fraternity had given Matthews just five months to live but rather than resign to his fate he decided to bet on his life. Matthews made $8300 just by surviving the first year after the diagnosis and another $8300 for surviving another year. The odds of his life were enhanced to 100 to 1 during the third year, which would have given him an additional $16,000. Unfortunately, Matthews passed away his illness but he benefited by $16,600 before he passed away.
The Drag Bet By Branson
Richard Branson the owner of Virgin airlines and the famous entrepreneur offered the chief AirAsia Tony Fernandes an interesting proposition back in 2010. The proposition stipulated that the Virgin racing team would do better during the Formula One season that the Lotus racing team. The loser of the bet was required to dress up in drag and serve on the winner’s airline for a day. The challenge was accepted by Fernandes but unfortunately, the Virgin team ended up in 12th position compared to the 10th position of Lotus. Branson had to take to the skies complete with makeup and a pair of heels with freshly shaved legs on a charity flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur.
Losing a Wife In A Card Game
A card game is not similar to top online casino games and when people run out of money they simply exit from the table with a lighter wallet. This was however not the case with Andrei Karpov who decided to put his wife up as a stake in a game of cards against his opponent Sergey Brodov. Fortune was unfortunately not favoring Andrei who not only lost the stake and his wife but also had to go through the ignominy of being divorced. The winner of the stake and the woman in question was none other than the opponent off Andrei, Sergei Brodov who also married the wife of Andrei after winning her in the game.
The Breast Challenge
Not many people would consider taking on bets, which would require them to change the appearance of their body except strange gamblers. It was exactly what was done by Brian Zembic who had an infatuation for taking on strange bets and had done so even in the past. Zembic wagered $100,000 to have 38-C breast implants and even retain them for a year. He underwent the surgery to get the implants and also refused to sell the bet for $50,000. Zembic has the breasts even to this day and has mentioned that he would only consider taking the implants out if his six-year-old daughter asked him to.
These are the top 5 most bizarre bets, which have been recorded until this moment, and who knows some strange character may come up with something bizarre to beat the five on this list.
Source: http://whatculture.com/sport/5-most-ridiculous-bets-of-all-time
