Ultimate guide to novelty betting - tips and strategies for specials bets

The markets in football and horse racing betting have grown astronomically over the years - but nowadays you can even place wagers on who will win a WWE fight, which movie will gross the highest in a year, and who the next person to be dumped on Love Island will be. 

Novelty bets, also known as specials or non-sports bets, have also massively increased in popularity over the years, so much so bookmakers are adding new markets quicker than TV producers can create Love Island series. 

Here, we delve into what novelty betting actually is, the types of markets you can get involved in, and how you can bet on novelty markets. 

Check out the best UK bookmakers to claim free bets worth up to £850!

What is novelty betting?

Novel betting tends to be a wager on the outcome on a non-sporting event. 

However, nowadays there can be specials bets incorporated into sporting events - such as betting on the coin toss result in the Super Bowl, or you could previously place a bet on what the late Queen Elizabeth was going to wear at Royal Ascot. 

Away from sport, novelty bets tend to be outcomes of a TV show, an election, the weather, award ceremonies, a Royal baby name, and many more. It's becoming big business too - betting on this year's Eurovision Song Contest was as popular as major sporting events like the Super Bowl. 

Types of novelty bets: 

- Politics

- Weather 

- Music 

- TV shows 

- Movies 

- Global events 

- The Royal Family 

- Awards shows 

- Sports prop bets 

Politics bets can include main markets, such as which party will win the next general election, or who will be the next Prime Minister, or who will be the next Pope. 

But when a UK General Election nears, more detailed markets crop up on betting sites, and you can place money on how many seats each party will win, or who will take victory in a particular constituency. 

One of the most traditional specials bets is whether there will be snow at Christmas. 

These white Christmas market tends to be decided on whether a single snowflake drops on a particular city's airport. 

Unless you're a big-time meteorologist, you're unlikely to have an inside knowledge of this, but there are far stranger markets out there in the galaxy. 

One of the strangest global events you can back in specials betting markets is whether aliens will land on earth in a certain year, or even when the world will end. 

Betting on when the world will come to an end is a bit of fun, but you will, of course, effectively be making a donation to any bookmaker who is offering such a market. 

Because if you do happen to somehow guess the correct year the world is going to end, we will all go up in smoke, including the bookies, so there will be no way of cashing in your bet. 

Other popular specials bets include bands or artist who might headline Glastonbury Festival, or whether certain groups - like the Spice Girls - might reunite. 

TV novelty betting

Betting on the outcome of a TV show has also proved popular over the years. 

Many a pound has been won or lost predicting the outcome of the likes of Celebrity Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing on Ice. 

But, amazingly, you can also bet on some scripted TV outcomes. 

While some WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) super-fans still believe their oiled-up heroes and heroines decide between themselves who wins a certain match, it is a largely scripted form of entertainment. 

However, you can bet on who wins certain pro wrestling events, such as WWE's WrestleMania, or WWE's Royal Rumble, and some bookmakers even take wagers on major soap opera storylines. 

EastEnders' whodunit plot Who Killed Lucy Beale? ran for nearly a year, from April 2014 to February 2015. 

The killer ended up being Lucy's own brother, character Bobby Beale, who had opened up at 100/1 with some bookmakers. 

While soap super-fans can make a few quid predicting the outcomes of their favourite serial dramas, NFL special betting aficionados often have their stopwatches at the ready to time the length of National Anthem ahead of the Super Bowl. 

Punters can bet on how long - usually longer or shorter than a specific time - The Star-Spangled Banner will last. 

It often depends on the particular performer of the US National Anthem that year, and whether they tend to slowly belt out the anthem, or try to get it over and done with quickly. 

How to bet on novelty markets 

To place a novelty bet, follow these steps: 

- Visit your favourite betting website

- Click on something like "specials" or "TV, music and film", or "novelty"

- Select your market

- Enter your bet 

- Click confirm, as you would on the outcome of a football match or horse race

While ante-post football and horse racing bets can take months to settle, that's often nothing compared to some novelty wagers. 

For example, a market on the next James Bond actor can last for years before the new identity of the suave spy is confirmed. 

Also, be aware that certain bookmakers will allow you to add specials bets into multiple wagers with some sports, but some won't. 

If a certain novelty market has decimal odds and you're used to fractional, just check out our guide on how odds work to make sense of it.

Novelty betting strategies 

As with all betting, research is vital.  

With novelty bets, it's extremely important to know how a market is going to be decided. 

In a football match, the winner is the team with the most goals. That's obvious.  

But if you're betting on the likes of TV shows Celebrity Big Brother, or I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! then you need to know how the winner is chosen.

In both of these cases, it's via audience vote. 

So, do your research by looking at website polls for who fans think should or will win these shows, look for which of the stars competing have the most social media followers etc. 

Of course, it doesn't always work out that the contestant with the most social followers wins a certain reality TV show, but it can be a contributing factor. 

If betting on a TV show where the winner is chosen by the audience, it's also important to look back at previous winners. 

For example, a male celebrity has won ITV's ice-skating reality TV show Dancing on Ice - which was rested following 2025's 17th series - for the past nine renewals. 

A female star hasn't tasted victory on the ice since Olympian Beth Tweddle won 2013's eighth series.  

Also, bear in mind that I'm A Celebrity voters may not vote the same way as Celebrity Big Brother voters, for example. 

In the past, I'm A Celeb voters may have favoured those on big ITV shows, whereas CBB fans might've preferred stars who were big on Channel 4 or Channel 5, when the programme aired on those channels. 

CBB has since moved to ITV, and 2025's series was won by Jack P Shepherd - a legend of Coronation Street, ITV's biggest soap opera. Coincidence? Possibly, but it's important to be aware of these things. 

What's more, when betting on a show like Love Island, it can often pay to bide your time before dipping your toe into the market. 

Bookies price up who might win the show - known as Top Man and Top Woman, initially - from the first episode of a typical eight-week series, but things can look completely different by the season finale. 

In theory, all contestants who start the show could end up being "dumped" along the way, and those who are added throughout the series, known as "bombshells", could be the ones who make up the final pairings. 

For this reason alone, it's best to play it safe and not be too eager to back someone who might not even end up in the final. 

Or, if you're betting on the winner of Sports Personality of the Year, which is announced annually in December, it pays to look at the sporting calendar. 

You may fancy a British golfer to win a major early in the year, but make sure to check whether there is a men's or women's football World Cup or European Championships taking place that summer. 

A victory for the Three Lions or the Lionesses could see their best player trump your golfing hope. 

Or, if there's an Olympics that summer then Team GB's best medal hope might be worth backing for SPOTY victory later in the year. 

But whatever you're betting on, make sure you shop around for the best prices. 

You might think you're onto a good thing backing the future I'm A Celebrity winner at 10/1, only to discover when they are announced as the King or Queen of the Jungle that they were 33/1 with another firm on the same day you placed your wager. 

It can take the shine off a nice winner. 

Similarly, be sure to make the most out of any free bet bonuses out there.

Summary 

Novelty bets can be a lot of fun, but the main principles of betting should also be applied to them.

As with horse racing or football betting, you should always manage your bankroll and only bet what you can afford to lose - even if you are taking a punt on an alien landing on Earth in 2025. 

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Need help? Visit our responsible sports betting page or our responsible casino gambling page, or contact the support organisations listed below if you're struggling to control your gambling:

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