Five Unusual Sports That Americans Bet On

Sports betting is extremely popular in the USA, despite the unclear legislation regarding online gambling in the country. The most popular sport to gamble on is football, and there are many NFL football betting sites on the web that offer all kinds of wagering opportunities.

Other options like basketball, baseball, tennis, and soccer also attract plenty of bettors, and that’s to be expected. However, some Americans prefer to go outside the norm with their betting choices and place wagers on unusual sports. Let’s take a look at five of them.

Aussie Rules

Australia has its own version of football or rugby, and it’s called Aussie Rules football. The sport is beloved in the land of the kangaroos, but surprisingly, a lot of Americans like it too. The dynamic nature and the similarities with the local NFL are probably the main reasons.

Furthermore, the season of the Australian Football League starts in the spring and ends in the autumn, exactly during the NFL off-season, so the timing might be one of the reasons why Aussie Rules has some fans in the USA.

Cycling

The integrity of cycling took a big hit with the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, but it seems that the sport still has a loyal fanbase in the USA. There are still people betting on big competitions like Tour De France, the Vuelta, and the Olympic cycling competitions.

That shows that there are enough Americans who still love the sport. If it somehow manages to repair its tarnished reputation, it has the potential to become widely popular once again.

WWE Pro Wrestling

We all know that pro wrestling is scripted, so even calling it a sport is a bit far-fetched. Don’t get us wrong, we respect the hard work of everyone involved, but it’s a show, not a sports competition.

And yet, since everyone that works in the industry is obliged to keep quiet about the outcome of each event by the power of some tough contracts, we don’t actually know what will happen. There are online and brick-and-mortar bookmakers that offer odds on WWE events, and some fans bet on the matches.

It’s interesting to note that the WWE betting strategies are considerably different compared to betting on traditional sports. In this case, you need to have a lot of imagination and try to figure out what the team of writers behind each event would offer to the public.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is one of the weirdest sports if you ask anyone outside of the USA and some parts of Canada. You will struggle to find many official competitions in lacrosse, but there are NCAA college tournaments that actually attract a decent number of viewers across the United States.

Some of them also place real-money bets on lacrosse games. Not many bookmakers offer odds on the sport, but you can find moneylines, totals, and spreads if you look hard enough.

Table Tennis

Millions, if not billions, of people from all over the globe love playing table tennis, and the USA is not an exception. The sport is fun and easy to practice. Apparently, there are enough official competitions for people to actually bet on too.

You would expect that from countries like China, where table tennis is like a religion, but it seems there are some Americans who place wagers as well.