A friendly political wager is a largely symbolic form of sports betting made between politicians representing two cities or areas on the outcome of an important sports contest between teams representing those same two cities or areas. These wagers are most commonly made in the United States and Canada on the results of playoffs in the National Hockey League, National Football League and Major League Baseball as well as, on occasion, the Olympic Games. Although they are technically a form of gambling, friendly political wagers are generally tolerated by the sports leagues and regulatory authorities as harmless publicity stunts and gestures of regional pride.
Friendly political wagers
The most common types of wager are those for symbolic value only, and those for a token food prize.
For example, in the 2009–10 NFL playoffs, two bets were made:
During the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, US President Barack Obama and Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper wagered a case of beer on the outcome of the gold medal game in the men's ice hockey tournament. President Obama sent Prime Minister Harper a case of Molson Canadian and a case of Yuengling lager (Obama's favorite beer, brewed in Pennsylvania) to settle the bet.
A similar sort of betting occurs elsewhere, although the subject is as likely not to be sport. German Green politician and gastronome Joschka Fischer was noted for betting cases of wine and fine spirits on the outcomes of German elections with politicians of other parties.
In October 2011, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key made two bets: the first on the NRL grand final between the Manly Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors, wagering having to hold a press conference in front of the other country's flag; and the second on the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-final between New Zealand and Australia, wagering having to eat an apple from the other country and speak profusely on how good it was (reflecting Australia recently lifting a ban on the import of New Zealand apples). Key subsequently lost the NRL bet, and Gillard subsequently lost the Rugby World Cup bet. [8]
Gambling is the wagering of something of value on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elements to be present: consideration, risk (chance), and a prize. The outcome of the wager is often immediate, such as a single roll of dice, a spin of a roulette wheel, or a horse crossing the finish line, but longer time frames are also common, allowing wagers on the outcome of a future sports contest or even an entire sports season.
Spread betting is any of various types of wagering on the outcome of an event where the pay-off is based on the accuracy of the wager, rather than a simple "win or lose" outcome, such as fixed-odds betting or parimutuel betting.
William King may refer to:
Julia Eileen Gillard is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the 13th deputy prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010, under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. She is the first and only woman to hold either office in Australian history.
Sport Select is a group of sports betting games offered by Canada's lottery corporations. In Quebec, the program is known as Pari sportif; in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, it is known as Pro-Line while in British Columbia, it is known as Sports Action. However, the rules for the games are similar in all provinces. Initially created to offer betting primarily on the North American major professional sports leagues, Sport Select has expanded to offer betting on competitions such as the English Premier League and college sports.
Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome.
The golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn matches in a number of sports. The term is borrowed from soccer's now-defunct golden goal.
In gambling, a "proposition bet" is a bet made regarding the occurrence or non-occurrence during a game of an event not directly affecting the game's final outcome.
The Iowa–Minnesota football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Iowa Hawkeyes football team of the University of Iowa and Minnesota Golden Gophers football team of the University of Minnesota. Floyd of Rosedale, introduced in 1935, is a bronze trophy in the shape of a pig which is awarded to the winner of the game.
Joshua Morris is a former Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played as a centre for the Sydney Roosters in the NRL and Australia at international level.
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The 2007 NBA betting scandal was a scandal involving the National Basketball Association (NBA) and accusations that an NBA referee used his knowledge of relationships between referees, coaches, players and owners to bet on professional basketball games. In July 2007, reports of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were made public, which alleged that during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 NBA seasons, referee Tim Donaghy bet on games in which he officiated. Donaghy later admitted to betting on games he officiated in each of the 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, and 2006–07 seasons. Donaghy's claims that instead of altering game outcomes as an on-court referee to advance his bets he exploited "inside information" to wager on NBA games were assailed by his co-conspirators and researchers. Pro gamblers, some of whom cooperated with the government, explained the only reason they got involved in the scandal was the betting win rate on games officiated by Donaghy, and each of Donaghy's co-conspirators stated the bets were originally exclusively on games Donaghy officiated with a few "non-Donaghy" games toward the end of the 4-year scandal. Researchers with unique access to offshore betting accounts and electronic betting records in addition to betting line data illustrated the betting activity was on games officiated by Donaghy.
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The following lists events that happened during 2011 in New Zealand.
The following lists events that happened during 2010 in Australia.
Top Pot Doughnuts is a chain of coffee and doughnut cafes started in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Top Pot began in February 2002 and was started by brothers Mark and Michael Klebeck.
The following lists events that happened during 2011 in Australia.
The following lists events that happened during 2013 in Australia.
Reagan Campbell-Gillard is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL. He has also represented both Fiji and Australia at international level.
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