Novelty Wagers Don’t Come Better Than The Great British Bake Off

Posted: August 26, 2016

Updated: October 6, 2017

The cultural phenomenon is back again for another season of cakes, calamity and that wonderful sense of victory that can only come with winning The Great British Bake Off but which of the new dozen contestants will fail and who should you be backing to take the victory?

Great British Bake Off

  • Kate – 4/1
  • Louise – 5/1
  • Jane – 5/1
  • Val – 7/1
  • Rav – 7/1
  • Candice – 10/1

Away from the harsh statistical probabilities of sports betting, beyond the nihilist cynicism of wagering on politics, and far distant from the casino games that inhabit our favorite online betting sites there is the much maligned and often dismissed novelty wagers market that provides a form of gambling for the masses who don’t follow form or locker-room gossip, who’ve no interest in poker or blackjack, but for whom reality television is as much a consuming passion as the Premier League is to football fans.

The annual flutter on the Eurovision Song contest, the bets on who’ll win the next Big Brother or become the next James Bond, the weather at Christmas or who’ll win which of the Oscars, the novelty wager markets are eclectic, hectic and subject to the sort of unpredictability that many regular gamblers steer clear of when they take advantage of UK gambling laws at Bet365 and its ilk. However for a growing number of punters this is the exciting addition to their favorite television show, and in the UK right now there is only one show everyone is talking about and it’s on the BBC.

Great British Bake Off judges

Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry serve as judges on the Great British Bake Off (photo: digitalspy.com)

Back A Baker To Beat The Rest At Sites Like Bet365

The Great British Bake Off is just that, although just how great you think it is rather depends on how charming you find the hosts, the contestants and the premise that cooking can be turned into a spectator sport. Previous seasons grabbed record breaking audiences, ten million tuned in to the first episode of this series, and it always set the internet alight with as much, if not more, opinionated rubbish on social media than even the Champions League produces, and as novelty wagers go in the UK this one attracts a lot of attention.

Great British Bake Off

  • Tom – 10/1
  • Andrew – 10/1
  • Selasi – 12/1
  • Benjamina – 12/1
  • Michael – 12/1
  • Lee – 14/1

It struck a chord and now appears to be weaving itself into the fabric of the nation, a collective poetic idealization of a culinary past that never really existed outside the tales of Enid Blyton, however if there’s one thing television does well it is to provide drama where little exists, and the producers of the Great British Bake Off will not be alone in the UK gambling news coverage in the tabloids added to a little creative editing will bring about the conflagration of attention and hoopla that the novelty wagers crowd just loves.

Reality TV Provides Some Great Modern Novelty Wagers

Whereas supporting a team can be a life-long pursuit, picking a chef on a TV that lasts a few episodes is more disposable, and with no expertise required to be actually knowledgeable there is a homogeneity of information from the programme and the press that makes everyone equally ignorant, or equally informed. A short-term level playing field on which anyone can have a valid opinion. For those not into sports this is a godsend and allows novelty wagers to add that piquancy only gambling can provide.

GBBO 2015 cast

The contestants of 2015’s Great British Bake Off (photo: bbc.com)

The odds at Bet365 and the like will settle down once the cooking gets underway but thus far it looks like it’s nurse, Kate at 4/1 running as favorite, Louise the hairdresser alongside 61 year old Jane at 5/1, Val the former teacher and Rav both get 7/1 whilst Candice, Tom and Andrew all sit together at 10/1, Selasi, Benjamina and Michael all garner but 12/1 and poor Lee looks set to be a poor wager at just 14/1 and if you’re adverse to placing a bet on sports in the UK this weekend, why not try one of the best novelty wagers and back the chefs on the Great British Bake Off instead, it’s a surprisingly tense and enthralling watch. Give it ten years and people will be trying to medal in it at the Olympics.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments