Towards the end of the year a unique sub-genre of novelty betting appears at online betting sites. Sometimes referred to as New Year’s Special, these bets require punters to predict who will take the lead in specified events. Examples are the first band to officially split in 2011, the first celebrity hair transplant in 2011 and the first celebrity drug bust in 2011.
However the most popular of the New Year’s Special novelty bets is about dating couples tying the knot. PaddyPower.com is a reputed international betting site. It has listed ten couples and invites bets on which of the ten will be the first to get married in 2011. If none of them get married then the bets will be void.
Favorites in the PaddyPower.com list are Abby Clancy and Peter Crouch with odds of 11/4. The couple has gone through testing times earlier this year but now that Abby is pregnant and the child is due in March 2011, this couple is the favorite to be the first to get married. Second on the list with odds of 7/2 are Christine Bleakly and Frank Lampard. This is another WAG and footballer couple that got together in October 2009.
If players want to try the long shots there is Kylie Minogue and Andres Velencoso. The couple has been together for sometime but has stated that they are in no hurry to get married. On Christmas Day, Andres was quoted as saying, “”But right now, we’re fine just the way we are. We have, of course, discussed about marriage and family but we’re in no rush.” This is why the odds of them tying the not in 2011 are 8/1. At 20/1 are Liz Hurley and Shane Warne. There are media reports of their already having split so only the foolhardy will back them.
An equally interesting, if not more so, is the set of bets on which celebrity couple will be the first one to split. There are 23 couples listed and some of them are legendary. The favorite to split are Daisy Lowe and Dr Who at 3/1. But some of the more enduring couples include Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Posh and Becks are least likely to split with odds of 80/1.