Wacky Wagers
It’s not all about horse race betting and online soccer betting at Bluesquare. We’ve staged some of the craziest sports betting events to celebrate Christmas over recent years and offered odds on everything from Jordan’s political career to Squirrels scoring at Highbury. Check out these bets from the occasionally wacky world of online sports betting.
1. The Eclipse
In 2001, Blue Square offered an incredible market on whether the Solar Eclipse will occur or not! Odds were offered at 1/20 and thousands of punters steamed in with maximum bets of £100!
2. Who will poll more votes in the General Election - Anne Widdecombe or Jordan
It’s not all about online sports betting at BlueSQ.com. Every once in a while we like to dabble in politics. In 2001 we offered a head to head match bet, on who was likely to receive more votes in the General Election – Anne Widdecombe or Jordan! We actually priced up Widdecombe at Evens with the page three model at shorter odds of 8-11!
The Tory candidate stood in the Maidstone & The Weald seat where she got 23,657 votes in 1997, while Jordan was a candidate in Stretford & Urmston. In the event Jordan received just 711 votes, not only polling lowest in her constituency but also well below Widdecombe who retained her seat in the house of commons.
Punters were allowed to place bets up to a maximum stakes of £5 on the special bet between at guaranteed odds.
3. Christmas 2000 – Hamster Racing
Forget online horse race betting, in 2000, Blue Square created their fist Christmas special with live Hamster Racing! The event took the form of two semi-finals with 6 hamsters in each, racing in drag cars down a 20’ course. The winners went through to a grand final producing excitement all over the world including Japan and Germany. The event not only attracted a raft of online sports betting but also a live appearance on Sky News!!
4. Christmas 2001 – Alligator Racing
We followed up our hamster racing with more sports betting shenanigans in 2001! This time 12 alligators took to the track to compete in two semi-finals and a grand final at Ealing Studios – It was noted that the alligators were a lot more vicious looking than the hamsters the previous year! Online sports betting fans had never seen anything quite like it as the alligators lined up for the championship. Vets, the RSPCA and the local council were all in attendance although the whole event wasn’t quite as scary as it sounds; the gators were only 6 inches long!!
5. Christmas 2002 – Scorpion Racing
Our 2002 online sports betting animal challenge saw us raise the danger levels further as Scorpions competed to be crowned the Scorpion King. The competition once again saw a hotly contested semi final before an exciting grand final finish. The event once again attracted lots of sports betting coverage from the media and left us scratching our heads about how we could top the event for Christmas 2003.
6. Christmas 2003 – Turkey Racing
In what some have described as Blue Square’s ‘Greatest Christmas Special’, turkeys were recruited to provide the online sports betting Christmas entertainment in 2003. The racing was initially planned to take place at a Catford Greyhound track, but had to be moved to a secret location due to the intense media coverage – needless to say, the event had a slightly more pungent smell than its sports betting predecessors!
7. Christmas 2004 – Reindeer Racing
In 2004 we kept the Christmas theme going for our annual online sports betting spectacular! Santa’s reindeers competed for the title of Top Reindeer on location at Santa’s secret grotto! The event was going well until ‘Blitzen’ decided to jump the fence and didn’t return! Customers who had backed the reindeer were understandably frustrated at the animal’s clear lack of discipline!
8. Christmas 2005 – Elf Olympics
Blue Square’s latest Christmas extravaganza was filmed at Barnet, Copthall Stadium where Santa’s little helpers raced over a specially designed obstacle course. For the first time humans were involved in one of our online sports betting Christmas challenges. All the competitors were less than four feet tall and dressed as elves with Mrs. Santa Claus present to help her little friends along! Punters watched with great excitement live on Blue Square TV to see if their chosen elf had done enough to make it through to the grand-final and ultimately be crowned as the champion! Obstacles included going under a hurdle, through a net, and a sprint to the finish line on mini pedal bikes!
9. Highbury Squirrel to score a goal
In 2006, during Arsenal’s victory over Villarreal in the Champions League final, a squirrel managed to find its way onto the pitch and into online sports betting history, disrupting the game for a number of minutes – not even Thierry Henry was quick enough to catch him! Blue Square offered prices on the Highbury Squirrel to return in the next match against Spurs at 25/1 and took over 65 bets! Customers also took advantage of a bet of 300/1 on the squirrel to touch the ball and 3 customers even put a bet on at 5000/1 on the squirrel to score a goal!
10. From Russia With Gloves
One of the most unusual online sports bets of 2006 saw Arsenal travel to Moscow for a Champions League game with CSKA Moscow in sub-zero conditions. Blue Square offered a market on how many of Arsenal’s outfield players would be wearing gloves at the kick-off. As it turned out, all 10 players wore gloves but they didn’t help as the Gunners went on to lose the game 1-0!
Take a look at BlueSQ.com today to see what wacky wagers are currently available and look out for our big Christmas event for some festive online sports betting fun and drama!!
