From Cornhole to Competitive Eating — The Rare Markets Hiding on Your Sportsbook App
Most bettors never scroll past the NFL and NBA tabs, but the biggest sportsbooks quietly carry markets on sports that have nothing to do with a stadium or a scoreboard most people recognize. Drone races, competitive eating contests, and Finnish baseball all have real betting lines somewhere — you just have to know where to look.
Smart Bet Insider tracks exactly these overlooked corners of the betting menu, flagging which sportsbooks actually carry markets on the sports everyone else skips. This guide runs through 15 unusual betting markets, where to find them, and how to tell whether a market is actually live right now.
Can You Actually Bet It? Check the Market in Three Stages
A sportsbook’s sport list — or even a state’s approved-event catalog — doesn’t necessarily mean you can place a wager on that sport today. Vermont’s framework makes this distinction particularly clear: the state can approve categories of sporting events and wager types, but sportsbooks may only offer wagers that fall within those approved categories and meet requirements such as having a verifiable outcome and a reliable, independent process, as laid out in Vermont’s sports wagering statutes and rules.
The Three-Stage Test
For unusual sports, the practical question isn’t “Is this sport offered?” — it’s “Can I actually bet it right now?” A useful three-stage test covers that gap: approved or eligible, then listed by the sportsbook, then an active event with posted odds. Vermont’s Catalog of Approved Events for Sports Wagering includes categories ranging from badminton and bandy to competitive tag, cornhole, and drone racing, demonstrating how broad the eligible universe can be — long before any of it translates into an actual line you can bet.
Five Things Worth Checking
For each market, five checks tell you where a sport actually stands:
| Check | What it tells you |
| Eligible? | Whether the sport can legally be offered |
| Listed? | Which sportsbook carries it |
| Event posted? | Whether odds are currently available |
| Markets offered? | Winner, totals, props, handicaps, etc. |
| Live betting? | Whether wagering continues after the event starts |
This approach matters because Vermont law explicitly recognizes different wager types, including moneylines, totals, proposition bets, and in-play wagers — meaning a sport can be legally eligible while still having no active event, or it can have an event listed with only a single pregame market and nothing else. For bettors hunting unusual sports, current availability is the real measure of coverage, not merely whether the sport appears somewhere in a regulatory document.
Approval Doesn’t Mean It’s Live
That doesn’t mean every sportsbook continuously posts odds on every listed sport, even once it’s live somewhere. When Vermont launched sports betting, DraftKings explained that unusual markets depended on significant events taking place — cornhole, for example, was priced roughly twice a month, only whenever events were actually scheduled.
Market Depth Can Vary Wildly Within One Sport
Depth also varies dramatically within the same sport once a market clears all three stages. bet365’s own snooker rules cover match, frame, spread, total-frame, century, highest-break, and 147 markets, plus extensive live options like next-frame winner, next-frame points, and next-frame highest break — details available directly through bet365’s snooker betting rules. Its darts betting rules similarly cover race-to-leg, checkout, 180s, first-dart, and next-leg markets — a reminder that eligibility only proves a market can exist, while a live event with posted odds proves you can actually wager on it.
Novelty Sports Gone Pro
Some of the most surprising betting markets started as backyard games before turning into fully organized, sponsored competitions with real odds attached.
1. Cornhole
DraftKings became the “Official Sports Betting Partner of the American Cornhole League,” offering odds and lines on professional cornhole events — the first regulated sports betting market for the sport. Cornhole has transformed from a simple backyard pastime into a fascinating sport with growing interest in betting circles, thanks to its simple rules and broad appeal.
2. Competitive Eating
It sounds like a joke market, but it’s a real one. The International Federation of Competitive Eating has formalized many events, including the famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, and DraftKings has added Major League Eating to its list of niche sportsbook categories alongside other unconventional additions.
3. Lawn Mower Racing
Lawn mower racing involves modified mowers competing on dirt tracks, often reaching impressive speeds, in a quirky but organized sport with regional competitions, and offshore sportsbooks have started pricing race winners and lap-based markets around it.
4. Drone Racing
Leagues such as the Drone Racing League attract sponsorships, live audiences, and extensive online streaming, with betting options including race winners, podium finishes, and specific lap times available through several offshore books. DraftKings has also added the Drone Racing League to its niche sportsbook categories, though availability still depends on the state and event calendar.
International Sports With Real Depth
Beyond the novelty acts, several genuinely established international sports carry deep, ongoing betting menus that most American bettors have simply never encountered.
5. Pesäpallo
DraftKings even offers Pesäpallo, an unusual Finnish take on baseball, for the rare fan who follows the sport — a level of specificity that goes well beyond what most sportsbooks bother to list.
6. Jai Alai
bet365’s markets reach into niche sports like Jai Alai, a fast-paced Basque sport played with a curved wicker basket, giving it a rare regulated home outside the handful of U.S. venues where it’s still played live.
7. Bandy
bet365’s full sport list includes Bandy, an ice sport similar to hockey that’s popular in Scandinavia and Russia but almost never covered by American-facing sportsbooks.
8. Netball
Netball also appears on bet365’s extensive sport list, reflecting the book’s global reach into competitions that are hugely popular in Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Africa but largely invisible in the U.S. betting market.
9. Water Polo
Water Polo rounds out bet365’s expansive niche sport coverage, giving Olympic and international water polo fans a regulated market that few competitors carry.
Precision and Table Sports
Precision sports built around individual skill — rather than team play — form another category most bettors overlook, even though the markets can run surprisingly deep.
10. Snooker
Snooker’s betting menu goes well beyond picking a match winner, as its coverage in the section above shows — frames, centuries, highest breaks, and live next-frame markets make it one of the more fully built-out niche sports on bet365’s platform.
11. Darts
Darts carries similar depth, with leg, set, checkout, 180, and player-specific markets available both pregame and live, meaning a single darts match can carry nearly as many betting angles as a major team sport.
12. Table Tennis
Table tennis appears on DraftKings’ full A-Z sport list alongside darts and snooker, and bet365 offers live streaming and in-play betting on niche sports including table tennis, making it one of the more accessible fast-paced niche markets to actually watch while betting.
New-Wave Competitive Sports
The newest category of unusual markets comes from sports that didn’t exist in a competitive, bettable form a decade ago but now have organized leagues and sportsbook attention.
13. Pickleball
Pickleball has gone from a casual backyard game to a sport with real betting opportunities, joining cornhole and curling as recently mainstreamed competitions that sportsbooks now take seriously — and one that also appears directly in Vermont’s approved wagering catalog.
14. Esports
bet365’s markets reach into esports, an area few U.S. sportsbooks consistently support, and bettors can find competitive odds on games like League of Legends, Dota 2, and CS:GO — a market that barely existed a decade ago and now runs year-round.
15. Lower-Tier Pro Tennis (UTR Pro Tour)
bet365 offers betting on the UTR Pro Tour, tournaments for mid-level professional tennis players most fans have never heard of, proving that even a mainstream sport like tennis has an unusual, overlooked market hiding one tier below the majors.
Finding These Markets Before You Bet
Not every sportsbook carries these markets, and even the ones that do usually only price them around specific events rather than year-round. Running a market through the three-stage test — eligible, listed, and actively posted — beats assuming a sport is bettable just because it turns up on a catalog or an A-Z list.
Smart Bet Insider tracks which sportsbooks currently carry these niche and novelty markets, since availability shifts constantly and a market that existed last season may quietly disappear the next. Checking before you download a new app saves the disappointment of finding your favorite obscure sport isn’t actually listed.
The Betting Menu Goes Further Than You Think
From cornhole and competitive eating to Finnish baseball, Jai Alai, and the UTR Pro Tour, the modern sportsbook menu covers far more ground than the NFL and NBA tabs most bettors stick to. bet365 and DraftKings lead the way on breadth, but even they only price many of these markets around specific events rather than continuously — which is exactly why checking current availability matters more than checking a sport list or a state’s approved catalog.
If you follow a sport that never seems to show up anywhere, it’s worth running it through the eligible-listed-active test rather than assuming no sportsbook covers it — chances are good that one does, at least during its biggest events. For ongoing tracking of where unusual and niche markets actually show up, Smart Bet Insider keeps its coverage current as sportsbooks add and drop these markets throughout the year.
FAQs
Can you actually bet on cornhole?
Yes. DraftKings became the official sports betting partner of the American Cornhole League, offering regulated odds on professional cornhole events in select states, typically whenever tournaments are scheduled.
Does a sport appearing on a state’s approved list mean I can bet on it today?
Not necessarily. A sport being eligible under a state’s regulatory catalog is only the first of three stages — it also needs to be listed by a specific sportsbook and have an active event with posted odds before you can actually place a wager.
Which sportsbook has the most unusual sports available?
bet365 leads by a wide margin, with markets extending into Jai Alai, bandy, netball, water polo, and the UTR Pro Tour, while DraftKings stands out for entries like Pesäpallo, cornhole, and drone racing.
Are drone racing and lawn mower racing really bettable?
Yes, primarily through offshore books and select DraftKings markets. Drone Racing League events offer betting on race winners, podium finishes, and lap times, and DraftKings has added the Drone Racing League to its sportsbook categories.
How deep are the markets on something like snooker or darts?
Deeper than most bettors expect. bet365’s snooker rules cover match, frame, spread, century, and highest-break markets with live next-frame options, while its darts rules include leg, set, checkout, 180, and player-specific markets both pregame and in-play.
Does esports betting count as an unusual market?
It’s newer than most traditional sports but has grown into an established one. Sportsbooks now offer competitive odds on games like League of Legends, Dota 2, and CS:GO, with bet365 among the operators most consistently supporting it.
Is it safe to bet on niche and novelty sports through offshore sportsbooks?
Offshore books often carry markets that regulated U.S. sportsbooks don’t, but they operate outside U.S. licensing and consumer-protection requirements. Weigh that trade-off before relying on one, and consult a legal professional for advice specific to your circumstances.