Betting on the Royal Baby, Super Bowl and the New Pope

There were no lack of interesting prop bets taking place throughout the year and as we get closer to stepping into 2014, the possibilities for this fresh new year are just as exciting, if not even better. However, this is the ideal time to look back on what happened over the past 12 months and see which stories stand out, and maybe even which prop bets brought bettors a nice return.

Betting on the Royal Baby

We can’t talk about prop bets in 2013 without mentioning the hysteria around the birth of the Royal Baby. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made headlines around the world with the fact that they were expecting to have a baby and online bookmakers didn’t miss out on the rare chance to offer gamblers the chance to wager on the outcome.

While most of the action came from the United Kingdom, it is safe to say that the betting frenzy was global and bets came from around the world. The level of attention regarding the child was surprising to say the least and it resulted in massive betting on various details regarding the birth. The most common was the day in which the Royal Baby will be born and the odds fluctuated with each statement made by the doctors of the Duchess. The gender was up for betting for a while during the first part of the year, before the couple made the highly anticipated announcement.

The name of the baby generated a lot of betting action as well, with George having 3/1 odds and was proven to be the right bet as the couple opted for this name. Various options and long shots such as Francis (28/1) and David (33/1) got the books a nice win from the birth of George of Cambridge.

SuperBowl frenzy doesn’t disappoint

It has become a known fact that every year, the Super Bowl comes with hundreds of prop bets to keep gamblers excited. These are not just for the game and can pretty much cover everything taking place that night as the last game of the NFL season is played to determine the winner of the prestigious title.

In February, the Baltimore Ravens played against the San Francisco 49ers and while the game itself had plenty of betting action, it was the massive collection of prop bets that really made it interesting. These ranged from the length of the National Anthem being performed by Alicia Keys to the duration of the post-game handshake between the coaches of the two teams; with the Over/Under line at 7.5 seconds for the two brothers. There were even prop bets regarding the use of “God” or “Lord” in one of the post-game interviews held by Ray Lewis (Over/Under 3).

The night turned out to be quite incredible and it had plenty of dramatic episodes. If another Royal Baby is not yet in the books for 2014, the Super Bowl XLVIII is sure to have a lot of prop bets.

Betting on the new Pope

Pope Benedict XVI resigned this year and the move left many people wondering who will take his place in the Catholic Church. It was quite unexpected and the uncertainty regarding the issue made for one of the best prop bets possibilities of the year. Sports books quickly started offering various odds for the next pope, with Marc Ouellet being the favorite at 7/2.

After everything was settled, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was named the new pope, giving a nice return to those which supported them from early on, when he had 40/1 odds to get the honor.