Ten Niche Sports You Can Bet On

It is good to know that in the world of online sports wagering, where soccer, basketball, and American football dominate, there is extensive diversity in play. Consequently, below, we seek to tell you about ten sporting event types on whose results you probably did not know you could gamble.

Surfing

Probably the coolest water sport ever is surfing, whose name comes from the term used to depict a person using a board to ride a wave. Most people are unaware that this activity derives from ancient Peru, and it has been an essential aspect of Polynesian culture dating back to 400 AD. For many, it is also news that surfing became an Olympic sport in 2020.

There are many professional surfing competitions held annually around the globe, and events from the World Surf League Tour are probably the ones that draw the highest level of attention. Many of our premium crypto sportsbooks carry these for sports betting fun.

Bandy

What is bandy? We will be honest and tell you that staff members have told us they did not know what this sport was until they got into covering online wagering. It is a winter sport similar to hockey, played on a large ice surface. It got invented in England in 1882 and features teams of eleven players. While for many, bandy may look a whole lot like hockey, it has several distinctions. Aside from the mentioned number of players, the rink size here is bigger, closer to a football pitch. The goalkeepers in bandy also do not use sticks. A game consists of forty-five-minute halves, and gameplay is generally much faster in bandy. Those are only a few of the differences that come to mind.

Netball

Netball is another sport we are sure that many casual sports fans do not know exists. It is also another activity that the English invented, but one that gets enjoyed primarily by women. It is similar to basketball, but here, teams have seven players, and the court used is more reminiscent of a handball one than a traditional b-ball layout. It has goalposts within a shooting circle, and there is no dribbling here. To win, a team must score more points in four fifteen-minute quarters than their opposition. There are professional netball leagues in multiple countries, most notably in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. These are the ones that most Internet bookies accept wagering action on.

3×3 Basketball

We are sure that many readers have seen a three-on-three basketball game. Nevertheless, we would assume that few know this is an Olympic sport, one that made the cut the same year as surfing, 2020. It gets regulated by FIBA, which runs various international tournaments for 3×3 basketball. The action here transpires on half a court, with one sub available, with a contest ending when someone reaches twenty-one points or time elapses.

WWE

Yes, you can bet on professional wrestling matches. We have a dedicated tutorial page for this practice, and we recently posted a guide on how and why this is available at various top gambling sites. Note that most operators only allow WWE wagering, and they may accept AEW and ROH bets, but indie league North American matches are unavailable.

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is a martial art that is known the world over. Knee and elbow KOs are more prominent in this combat sport than in any other, and its contests in Thailand are synonymous with in-arena betting. But in years past, they were never on hand at online bookmakers. That has since changed, as we have seen some bookies offer wagering on high-profile Mauy Thai fights organized in Thailand’s famed Lumpini Boxing Stadium and elsewhere. Therefore, if you know your Muay Thai, know that you can put your knowledge to use online to turn a profit.

Futsal

Futsal is not precisely niche as a sport, as it has a long tradition, and it got featured at the Montevideo World Cup in 1930. It gets played on a basketball-style court between teams of five, including the goalkeeper. There is an unlimited number of substitutions allowed in futsal, which emphasizes creativity and technique. Many online gamblers do not know that futsal streams and betting are widely available, and matches from various futsal competitions get listed for wagering entertainment, with most of these featuring many of the same markets as those posted for football/soccer contests.

Pétanque

The main rules of Pétanque were codified at the start of the 20th century, and this game’s name comes from an expression meaning foot planted – petanca in the Provencal dialect. Virtually everyone has seen Pétanque played. They just do not know it. It is a game where people/teams roll/throw metal balls, aiming to get as close as possible to a target one. Pétanque is a chiefly French game, and many of this country’s cities have their clubs that compete against each other in this sport. There is also an international level, including a Pétanque World Championship that has run for male competitors since 1959.

Squash

Squash, not to be confused with racquetball (or rocketball), is a racket-and-ball sport played by teams of two or individual players who hit a hallow ball in a four-walled court. It will enter the Olympics in 2028, and it has its origins in the older game of rackets that was popular in 19th-century London prisons. The sport’s main competitions are ones from its PSA World and PSA Challenger Tours. The majority of these should be up for betting at sportsbooks that allow squash wagering.

Beach Handball

Team handball, not American, is an established form of athletic competition globally that is especially popular in multiple European countries, like Germany, Denmark, and France. Nonetheless, that is not the subject of interest here. Its beach variation started to pick up in the past decade, but internationally organized competitions have been run since 2000, when the first European Championship got held. We have seen numerous sportsbooks listing beach handball events chiefly involving national teams. Beach handball is different from the court variation by having four players per side, no dribbling, and two ten-minute sets.

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