Five Sports You (Probably) Didn't Know You Could Bet On

Five Sports You (Probably) Didn’t Know You Could Bet On

We’re thick in the middle of the baseball season, with the Boys of Summer dominating the betting space. From home runs to underdog win streaks (looking at you, Cincinnati Reds) and what seems like daily Ohtani bombs, the action is about as much as you could ask for as a baseball fan and recreational bettor. However, if you’re not big into baseball from either an entertainment or betting perspective, you’ve found yourself in the dog days of summer, possibly longing for those sweet First Basket bets and Touchdown round robins.

Maybe the books could rope you in by spicing up their prop markets with a few new offerings. Heck, we love baseball and we’ve still got more than a couple ideas for how to add something new to this summer stretch. Well, we at Dimers can’t stand idly by while you stare into the abyss like Pablo Escobar waiting for something to bet on, so we’ve done some hunting five sports that you probably didn’t know you could bet on. Some of them may seem a little out there, but hey, you can’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.

RELATED: Our Best Bets for MLB and MLS, Every Single Day

Some of the sports below are not available in every state or on every book. For that reason, you should definitely check out our Best Sportsbooks page, where you can find every single sportsbook available in your home state *and* the best signup and promotional offers you can take advantage of. For example, Massachusetts which just went live this year, currently has seven different sportsbooks available for mobile wagering. Don’t miss out!

Australian Rules Football

Far and away the most popular sport in Australia is the homegrown sport of Australian Football. Also referred to as Australian Rules Football or just "footy," the sport is a bit similar to rugby. It features teams of 18 facing off on an oval-shaped field where players attempt to kick the ball through one of four goalposts to score.

The Australian Football League is the sole fully pro league for the sport, featuring 18 teams located across the continent. Those teams contend for an 8-team postseason before a final winner, the “premier” is crowned. The sport’s popularity can’t be understated; last year the AFL saw an average attendance of over 71,000 fans per match, which would be higher than all but nine NFL franchises in the U.S. from the same year.

As far as the betting markets are considered, you can find Aussie Rules wagers on the major books, conveniently located at the top of the alphabetical lists on the likes of DraftKings and BetMGM, among others. The individual markets seem similar to tour standard American sports markets at first glance: Moneylines, Spreads, and Totals as well as goalscorer props and more. There are specialized bets, however, as FanDuel has a fun market called “Big Win, Little Win” where you can effectively wager on whether the game will be a blowout or not.

If you’re interested in learning more about Australian Football, our friends at Stats Insider have you covered from all angles.

Table Tennis

Ping Pong? Nay, when we’re throwing money into the action, we call it Table Tennis. Though these matches are played on a small table, the market is anything but minute. DraftKings alone has no fewer than six different leagues to pick from! Most available games usually include international events and tournament play, with the markets varying from moneylines and game totals, to the exact number of games and live point-by-point betting.

MORE: Daily Tennis Predictions for Every Match

When the Olympics roll around, there will be a bevy of matchups to bet on, so now’s the time to brush up on your table tennis handicapping!

FanDuel even has streaming options within their app, so you can watch the matches unfold and drop some live wagers.

E-Sports

E-Sports, or professional online gaming, is one of the largest growing sports in the world. It’s become a billion-dollar industry with the top competitors earning more than your average professional golfer. Thanks to streaming trailblazers like Twitch, the desire to watch competitive video gaming grew to astronomical levels.

There are effectively three major e-sports categories, with each one centered around a different game genre:

MOBA – Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games are team-centric, often class-based matches. Competitors select different characters with unique abilities and work in tandem to accomplish objectives within the game, with the ultimate goal usually being to destroy the enemy base. At it’s peak, League of Legends has drawn 44 million viewers. Popular games: League of Legends, DOTA2 (Defense of the Ancients)

FPS – First-person shooters are one of the most well-known types of games. Call of Duty and Halo are arguably the most famous of these, and although they have their own competitions, they’re not often seen on the scale of other e-sports, primarily when it comes to betting. Usually featuring small maps and teams of 4 or 5, this game type centers around militaristic style tactics. Popular games: CounterStrike (CS:GO), Valorant

Sports games – Self-explanatory. Sports simulators are not as popular as the others, but Madden, NBA 2K, FIFA and MLB The Show are household names.

You won’t find E-Sports on a lot of books, with DraftKings being the only of the major books that offers it, but you can also find them on bet365 which has a much wider array of options. Newly launched in Iowa, bet365 has a unique offer where you bet $1 and get $365 in Bonus Bets, which you can claim here. If you’re in the states of NJ,OH,VA, and CO you can bet $1 and get $200 in Bonus Bets here.

MiniGolf

Our philosophy at Dimers when it comes to sports betting revolves around two things: there is always value to be found and sports betting needs to be fun. What’s more fun than betting on MiniGolf?! We actually showcased some of the World Putting League’s second Pro-Am event back in April and it was more than a good time. As part of the Pro League Network, we could practically write an article on their diverse catalog of “alternative” sports that include CarJitsu, Slapfighting and Paintball.

The sport is straightforward; it’s just MiniGolf played by some elitely good putters! There’s a surprisingly robust amount of data to do some research on as many of the contestants have participated in dozens or even hundreds of events in their careers.

The markets don’t differ much from your typical golf offerings: head-to-heads, outright winners, placement bets and Hole in One props round out the bulk of the bets for the taking.

The WPL’s next event is June 26^th back in Myrtle Beach.

Betfred has pretty much has the MiniGolf market cornered, and you can score $111 in Fred Bets, plus up to $1,000 back over your first five weeks of betting here.

Cornhole

Beer-gutted dads and hometown heroes rejoice! You may not have made the big-time with your cornhole skills, and you still swear that you would have won the family title instead of Uncle Larry if not for that gust of wind at last year’s summer party, but you can still bet on the action.

If you’ve never watched professional cornhole, it’s fascinatingly impressive. The contestants are like the Steph Curry of the backyard; they drain three-point shots like it’s not just their casual hobby turned passive income.

Hilariously, BetMGM which has markets for Ski Jumping, Water Polo and Badminton, doesn’t feature Cornhole, because DraftKings is the official sportsbook of the American Cornhole League.

From what we can tell, it’s a slim market as the only available wagers are for straight-up winners, though you do have the option to bet both singles and doubles matchups.

If you’re keen on some cornhole action, you can score $150 on bonus bets to throw down after just a $5 wager by heading here.

Honorable Mentions – Darts, Snooker

You can get futures action on the Snooker 2024 Masters already, and if that’s not some fantastic casual wagering, we don’t know what is. There’s a guy named O’Sullivan who’s the favorite at +400. O’Sullivan just sounds like a guy who knows his way around a cue and some felt.

Darts action can be found on most books as it is a worldwide competition, with your markets ranging from Futures to individual matchups and player props like the most 180s (the maximum score with three darts).

While you could probably get this same action by heading down to your local dive bar or town pub, you don’t have to deal with the stale cigars and room-temp Bud-Lights if you stick to mobile wagering. Plus you can sign up at BetMGM and score your first bet back, up to $1,000, if it loses. Unless you live for that sort of thing and hate money.

Remember to please gamble responsibly. If you sense that you're taking your luck too far, know when to call it quits and don't be afraid to seek assistance. Keep in mind that gambling is all about having a fantastic experience! If you or someone you know is grappling with gambling issues, reach out to 1-800-GAMBLER for crisis counseling and support.