Unconventional sports you can place wagers on

Amazingly, however, there are over 8,000 different activities that are officially recognised as sporting activities. These range from strange ones like parkour to fiction-turned-reality ones like quadball (formerly known as quidditch).

As wacky as some of these sports may be, many are offered by sportsbooks and can provide better ways to win than conventional sports because they are not as popular and fewer people place wagers on them.

Read on as we discover some of the most unconventional sports you can bet on.

Chess

Modern chess has been around since the 19th century. However, it was only in 1999 that the popular game of logic was officially recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee.

While many would be shocked to discover that the game is classified as a sport, it should come as no surprise, considering that estimates are that over 800 million people play the game worldwide. People have consistently tried for it to be a part of the Olympic games, but each request has been denied.

The biggest competition in chess is the World Chess Championship, organised by FIDE (the International Chess Federation). The event takes place annually and pits the winner of the Candidates Tournament against the current world Chess Grand Master.

The final tournament is such a big event that many sportsbooks offer bets on the final winner.

 

Darts

Usually seen as a simple and popular pub game, darts (or dart-throwing) was first classified as a sport in the UK in 2005. While massively popular before this, it seemed more like a game than a competitive activity.

Before 1992, the game was overseen by the British Darts Organisation (BDO). However, the organization did little to get the game recognized as a sport or promote it in any way. Therefore, many professional players, alongside Dick Allix and Tommy Cox, founded the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation).

Within a year, the PDC signed a deal with Sky Sports to bring live coverage of games to the masses and introduced the first World Championship. This has continued since and has even led to the launch of the Darts Premier League. Due to the incredible competition and popularity of darts, plenty of sportsbooks have begun accepting wagers on bigger tournaments. Bets range from an outright winner to the most 180s.

Armwrestling

What is seen by many as an innocent pastime used amongst friends (and occasionally rivals) to show strength and settle innocent disputes is much more. The activity was registered as a sport in the 1950s and has since increased massively in popularity-thanks in part to being depicted in Over the Top, a 1987 movie starring Sylvester Stallone.

The biggest armwrestling event of the year is the World Armwrestling Championship held in Las Vegas. The event is organised by the World Armwrestling Federation (WAF), which was founded in Bulgaria in 1977 and is the highest organising body for the sport.

In the past, the sport has even attracted many professional footballers to participate in tournaments. While the NFL (National Football League) ended their participation, the publicity the sport received remained, and it is now widely enjoyed by fans and catered to by sportsbooks.

For the most part, there is only one type of bet that you can place on this sport: choosing who you think the winner of a particular pairing will be. However, there are factors to consider when selecting a winner, including whether the match is standing or sitting.

Rowing

Rowing is one of the most underrated sports in terms of the physical exertion that it requires. While professional rowers make it look easy by gliding through the water, the sport is much more demanding than it first seems.

Developed into a full sport sometime between the 1830s and 1860s, rowing was one of the first sports listed in the modern Olympic Games. Despite this, it is much less prevalent than others-particularly contact sports.

The sport is overseen internationally by World Rowing and has three main events: the World Rowing Cup, the World Rowing Championships, and the Olympic Games.

Many sportsbooks offer punters the chance to bet on these events, and three main types of bets are available. Betting on an outright winner is the most popular, but there is also the option to predict the top three crews or even the position each crew will rank on the leaderboard in a tournament.

Other Sports

· Sumo wrestling: Made famous by Japan, this sport involves two fighters going head-to-head in an attempt to push their opponent out of a circular arena.

· Hurling: Made up of a combination of soccer, rugby, and hockey, this Irish sport is one of the most challenging sports to play.

· Equestrian: Unlike horse races, equestrian competitions are all about showing horses and their ability to, quite literally, strut their stuff. Activities in this sport include walking, trotting, and jumping.