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Unusual Ways of Animal Betting

Since man first domesticated animals, there has probably been a link between gambling and animal racing or fighting. Thankfully some of these, like bear-baiting is thins of the past. Today we can see the continuation of this with such activities as horse and greyhound racing. These sports remain very popular betting activities throughout the world. In fact, you can bet on these at 22Bet Sportsbook and have a good chance to win the jackpot online. But apart from these two animal betting options, there are a number of interesting and unusual ways you can partake in unique forms of animal betting. So let’s take a trip around the world to find unique and less well-known animal betting activities.

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Animal Betting: Pigeon Racing

For hundreds of years, domesticated pigeons have been used for delivering messages over long distances. They have a little-understood mechanism for being able to navigate accurately. So it’s not surprising that by making use of this facility, pigeons can learn to race. Modern pigeon racing has become a highly competitive and extremely popular form of animal betting in many countries. These races can take place over distances of anything from 60 to 600 miles in a single race. Considering that pigeons are birds that traditionally have quite short life spans, the racing career begins at the age of 6 months and they can still be racing at the age of 10 years old.

Today technology helps punters and owners keep track of the birds. You can follow them by using GPS trackers, which is also a method of increasing the tension and expectations of the gamblers who are watching. In many parts of Asia, you’ll find that pigeon racing is incredibly popular. But it’s South Africa that really takes the biscuit as there is a race, the Million Dollar Pigeon Race, which takes place annually. The main prize is in the race title!

Reindeer Racing

Reindeer Racing
Image source: anjči, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s really no surprise that when someone mentions reindeer then this sport can only come from Scandinavia. But this race is not just about the reindeer. They actually act as the motor and they pull it along a skier behind as they harness themselves together. The race is not just about speed, as there’s considerable skill involved. This is because the reindeer along with their skier in tow can reach an impressive speed of over 38 miles per hour. By the way, every skier has to weigh over 60kg. In many cases, smaller women jockeys have to be “weighted” to bring them up to the official weight.

There’s a World Cup of Reindeer Racing which takes place in Tromsø, Norway. Many of the spectators and locals have all sorts of jackpot winning tips and tricks they use to help them place bets on which team will be the ultimate winner.

Animal Betting: Dachshund racing

Okay, we can probably get behind the racing of Greyhounds. After all, those are sleek canines, meaning that they can run fast by design. But watching squat little sausage dogs racing is going to be an interesting experience. You can find Dachshund racing in North America and unsurprisingly, thousands of people turn up to watch. Although no official sportsbooks are going to be taking bets, you can guarantee there’s a lot of non-official animal betting taking place around the sausage dog racetrack. We should stress that this form of dog racing is normally for a bit of fun and all the animal betting is to raise money for charities.

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Camel Wrestling

When you think of camel wrestling you probably think of a  human wrestler like John Cena versus a camel. But camels are incredibly strong and also have a very vicious bite. Camel wrestling takes place in Turkey and involves two male camels wrestling together during the rutting season. They “fight” by using their necks to try and push down their opponents. Apparently, the sport has been going on for more than 2,000 years, with the ancient Turkish tribes developing it as a pastime. These wrestling events take place during the winter months which is the camel mating season. The competitions are in a typical tournament fashion.

Each contest lasts around 10 minutes. These fighting camels come from breeders in Afghanistan and Iran. A well-bred wrestling camel can cost as much as $20,000. Even though gambling is illegal in Turkey, spectators watching the event are able to place furtive bets on which camel they think will win. Unfortunately, you can’t use a reputable online sportsbook like 22Bet Sportsbook to bet on the camels. But if you want to try to win the jackpot online, then they do offer a great welcome bonus of 122% up to €100 to help you get started.

Spider Fighting

Spider Fighting

Fighting with arachnids is a very popular hobby in the Philippines. In fact, the game is more often a game for children who make the spiders face off head to head by using bamboo sticks. After a match, the spider that loses goes to the winner’s owner. As you can imagine this so-called “sport” attracts many spectators. Winning spiders with a good fight record are often selling for around 100 pesos each. Moving across the East China Sea, but remaining in the Far East, there’s an important spider tournament fight that’s held each year in Japan.

This is known as Kumo Gassen or the Kajiki Spider Fighting Festival (加治木くも合戦). It’s held in the Kajiki town of Kagoshima. Once again, it’s a tournament-style fighting match where the eventual champion will be crowned. Though there is no formal animal betting on spider fighting, you can guarantee a lot of money changes hands behind the scenes.

Animal Betting: Fish Fighting

In Thailand, all forms of gambling are illegal and that includes fish fighting. Yet we know it carries on in underground locations. Having said that, even as a tourist you’ll have no problem finding fish fighting, as it’s really an open secret. Though the gambling aspects of this form of animal betting may be off-limits, fish fighting is part of Thai culture. Two Siamese fighting fish will go in a glass tank and battle it out. These fish are famous for their bright colours and large fins. But the miles are extraordinarily territorial and aggressively defend their territory. Simply placing 2 males in close proximity to each other is going to lead to a fight.

And though Siamese fighting fish may look quite harmless, they do in fact have very sharp teeth. As such they are quite capable of quickly ripping each other to pieces. On the whole, the fish owners try not to let this happen. They will quickly throw in the towel if they think any damage is going to happen to their prizefighter. After all, your jackpot winning strategies will come to a grinding halt if your prizefighter dies. The punters will bet on the winner and there’s a referee present who decides who wins the bout.

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