Jonathan has been working within the iGaming sector since 2007. After graduating with a BA Hons in Marketing from Northumbria University, he's been able to set up his own online content business, working with some of the biggest brands in the iGaming sector. Outside of work he enjoys any type of sports, especially cricket, golf, football and darts.
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Following his graduation with an Honors in Business Administration, Nick redirected his focus from conventional stocks and bonds to the world of sports team performance investments. He employs a unique blend of advanced statistics and historical data to construct intricate sports investment models, pinpointing value opportunities and consistently yielding profits. Nick's contributions extend beyond a single platform, as his work can be discovered on outlets such as Pistons Powered, Winners And Whiners, and numerous other publications.
All posts by Nick RaffoulTV show betting in the US is gaining massive traction. There’s a vast range of programs and prop bets that you can access amongst a plethora of betting sites.
The issue in the US is that TV betting is illegal. Federal law states that betting sites located in the US are not permitted to produce TV show betting markets.
There is a perfectly legal way around this, however, and this comes in the form of offshore betting sites. In this article we are going to show you sites where you can legally bet on TV shows and that you can 100% trust, as they are fully licensed.
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Can You Bet on TV Shows?
One of the questions that we get asked a lot is “Can you bet on TV shows”? The short answer to this is yes, you can bet on TV shows.
This sector of the online betting industry is one of the fastest-growing. Most sportsbooks take the time to create a huge range of markets dedicated to TV shows and entertainment.
In the United States, there are issues surrounding the legality of TV show betting and as we’ve mentioned, it’s illegal to do so in the country.
We need to expand a little on this, as there are perfectly legal ways around this.
First off, we want to quickly break down what the law states. In the US it’s illegal for sportsbooks that are hosted in the country to offer markets on TV shows and entertainment. Note here, “hosted in the country”.
There is no law that states it’s illegal for US residents to bet on TV shows on sites that are located outside of the United States. The workaround for you is that all the sites on this page are located offshore, so aren’t held to US federal law and they all accept players from the US.
We’ve shown a range of sites that allow you to legally bet on TV shows in the US and with each, including a massive welcome bonus that new accounts can access.
TV Betting Markets
In terms of what you can and can’t bet on will depend on the type of TV show. Some sportsbooks work harder than others in terms of bringing a larger range to choose from and it’s these types of sites that we target for these bets.
Reality TV shows and game shows generally have an overall winner of the show and this is where the majority of bets are placed. Overall winners for programs like America’s Got Talent and American Idol are two of the biggest TV betting markets that you can access.
One of the reasons why this works as well as it does is that the shows are broadcast live, meaning that votes are taken on the same day (or the week leading up to).
The flip side of these bets is picking people to be eliminated from the show. Eliminations will occur either from the public vote or by the contestant voting. Show like Big Brother has included both, where housemates vote for the bottom two and then they are put to the public vote.
Even though most of these shows are “live”, it’s still possible to bet on TV programs that are pre-recorded as part of a series. One of the biggest bets for any TV series came on the back of the incredible Game of Thrones series, where bookmakers were offering markets on which character would claim the Iron Throne.
Similar bets to this can be had for characters to be killed off or even for events to happen to them, such as giving birth or affairs. What you will find is that there is no limit as to the range of weird and wonderful betting markets that you can access.
Reality TV Betting
We think it’s fair to say that reality TV betting is the most popular when it comes to TV show betting. The programs are some of the biggest in the country and they even rival sports broadcasts, such is their popularity.
Each show will have a range of betting markets to choose from. Below we’ve listed some of the most popular reality bet TV shows along with betting markets that you can access with each.
American Idol
American Idol is one of the most popular reality TV shows in the country. It was first run in the UK (under the name Pop Idol) and since then has taken off in the US as well.
The show is a singing contest that starts with thousands of applicants before contestants are voted off each week in the live shows to then be crowned American Idol winner. Some past winners include Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson and Adam Lambert.
Betting on the show starts as early as the first episode where you can pick people that could potentially win. Most sportsbooks class these as future bets.
However, it doesn’t get interesting until all the auditions are over, and it’s crazy what you can bet on when you start heading into the live eliminations. Just to give you an idea, BetOnline includes overall winner bets, plus winners per round, weekly winners, and people to be eliminated that week.
America’s Got Talent
America’s Got Talent is another massive show, but this time instead of just including music, they have all sorts of acts that take part. It’s another show that is the brainchild of Simon Cowell and with it has produced massive success stories for the likes of Dustin Tavella, Brandon Leake, Kodi Lee, Shin Lim and Darci Lynne.
In terms of betting, markets start to open after the audition stage once all acts have been seen at least one. The semi-final and the final see the most bets placed, with the overall winner being the most popular pick.
Some betting sites take this to the next level and you even find things like the colour of people’s dresses and suits, as well as the song they will sing.
The Bachelor
The Bachelor has an almost cult following in the US and the show’s popularity has made this one of the most-watched guilty pleasures for millions of US residents. As the name would suggest, one eligible bachelor is greeted with a flock of women all vying to make him theirs.
As often the case with reality TV, there are many twists and turns which make for compelling viewing and compelling betting opportunities.
The Bachelor has one of the largest ranges of betting markets of any reality TV show. You can bet on which woman will be the overall winner, but you can also bet on which will be eliminated each week as well.
At the end of the show, the final pair can decide if they will get married or not, which is another prop bet that you can access with most sportsbooks.
The Bachelorette
The success of the Bachelor meant that it didn’t take long for the reverse to happen, with The Bachelorette being born. It’s a role reversed situation with the show where the woman must choose from 25 men who can come and go as the series progresses.
Betting opportunities are mirrored in that you can bet on the overall winner, plus weekly betting on which person will be eliminated. The usual “will they get married?” prop bet will also be available.
Big Brother
Big Brother is widely regarded as the OG of reality TV programs. It was the first fly-on-the-wall experiment that tested people being completely cut off from the outside world. It took a few years to get to the US following success in the UK and across Europe but is now widely regarded as one of the biggest reality TV shows in the country.
Betting wise, the most common bet is that of the overall winner and you can place wagers on this from the very first episode. You’re also able to bet on contestants to be up for weekly nominations and weekly evictions. Prop bets surrounding things like if contestants will hook up are usually available as well.
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is another incredibly popular reality show. It’s one of few that includes celebrities, although for some the phrase is loosely coined.
As the name would suggest, the show is based around dancing and each celebrity is paired with a professional dancer. Pairs are scored and then voted on by the public to progress to the next week.
There’s a lot of props that can be made with this TV show, which makes it popular for betting. The overall winner is the most common betting market, but things like weekly evictions and lowest/highest scores for the week can also be bet on.
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision song contest is the epitome of cheese. Held in Europe, countries from across the continent have representatives that go head-to-head to win Eurovision.
Voting is made by each country, and they give out points for the top 10 from a field usually around 30. The show is all about having a good time and very tongue in cheek, however, voting can get incredibly political, with countries that have strained relationships often avoiding each other in terms of points, regardless of how good the performance was.
Betting on the Eurovision Song Contest is a lot of fun. The overall winner is the most popular bet, but again, there are plenty of prop bets, that includes if certain countries will hand out points to each other, the lowest score of the night and best dressed.
The Masked Singer
The Masked Singer is one of the latest TV reality shows and another that includes celebrities. The show has the celebrities sing on stage, but their identities are hidden as they are each wearing flamboyant costumes and makeup.
Each week the person with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and then they must remove their mask to reveal their identity. The winner is the last person standing.
Betting on the event includes the overall winner and which masked singer will get eliminated each week. Given that identities are only revealed when they take their mask off, you can often bet on possible singers for each character.
Survivor
Survivor is one of the longest-running shows on TV. Most of the other reality shows take place once a year, but Survivor bucks that trend and includes several series each year located around the world.
The show is based around a group of random people that have been thrown together and left on a desert island. Each week players are voted out and the winner is the last person on the island, the Survivor.
Betting on the show is a lot like other series in that, you can be on the overall winner and weekly evictions. Some side bets include if romance will blossom within the camp (usually the case at some point) and if contestants will voluntarily leave before being voted out.
The Voice
The Voice is another singing reality TV show. However, it’s created a twist in that, the judges on the show can’t see the person singing until they press their button. If no judges turn, then the singer is eliminated. If more than one judge turns, then it’s up to the singer to choose which they want as their mentor.
After the blind auditions, the show goes into a knockout format. This is where betting on The Voice starts to take off as you can place wagers on who will be kicked off the show each week and who’s going to win overall. Prop bets include betting on the winning judge and potential songs they might sing in the final.
The X Factor
The X Factor is the original singing reality show and another created by music producer, Simon Cowell. This is a global TV show, however, in America, the show only ran for three seasons from 2011 to 2013 before Cowell decided that the space was too congested to succeed.
It all starts with the audition stage and four judges who decide which to take through to the studio audience finals. Once at the knockout stages, voting starts and singers with the least number of votes are kicked off the show.
Game Show Betting
Game shows differ from reality TV in that, they are much more slapstick, meaning that people play the game, win some money (hopefully) and then leave. You could argue that the shows themselves are a form of gambling, but there’s also the ability to bet on these shows as well.
Generally, there are two forms of game show betting. The first is your traditional game show, like Wheel of Fortune, that’s aired on TV. The other, and more modern, is that of live casino game shows. This takes live casino games and creates an environment that wouldn’t be out of place at a more traditional game show.
Below we’ve included some of the best game show betting options. You’ll notice that some of them access both the traditional game show and the online platform, giving it the best of both worlds.
Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal is one of the most iconic game shows in the world. It’s also been incredibly important for the online casino sector as they’ve been able to produce slots and games as spin-offs to the show which are widely regarded as some of the best in the business.
The show itself is very simple. There are 22 boxes and behind each box is a sum between 1c and $1,000,000. The player then chooses boxes that they want to be removed one by one, and after every three picks will receive an offer from the “Banker” that they can either take or choose to carry on the game based on the boxes that remain.
It’s generally an incredibly tense game and even though the concept is simple, the life-changing sums of money that are involved make it highly stressful for the players.
There are opportunities to bet on TV shows, although these are limited. They’d generally be prop bets about if someone would win the million dollars or not for an episode that would air on a certain date. Some bookmakers offered spread bets on the amount of money they would win and if they would take a deal or go all the way with their own box.
Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune is an absolute classic and this game is one that’s been enjoyed in homes as family fun for decades. Again, it’s another simple premise in that, you spin the wheel and wherever it lands, you win a prize.
The game also includes a puzzle-solving round where you unlock a handful of letters to a word or phrase that you need to solve before the time is up. It’s such a popular game that a lot of casinos in places like Las Vegas have huge wheels right at the front that players can play on as they enter.
Betting on the TV show allows for a range of bets that include if a player will win the jackpot when the game airs and brackets of money that the last player wins overall.
Dream Catcher
Dream Catcher was created by Evolution Gaming and was in fact their first foray into game shows within the live casino sector. The concept of the game is a little like Wheel of Fortune where you place your bets on a spinning wheel and if it lands on your number then you win.
The number of the wheel is representative of the odds. The wheel includes 52 segments and maximum wins are priced at 40:1.
Whilst not a game that’s seen any mainstream TV time, this is one of the most popular games at any live casino. Evolution Gaming is one of the fastest-growing casino games developer in the world, which means access to Dream Catcher is only growing.
Play Your Cards Right
Another iconic game show is that of Play Your Cards Right. The game stems from a segment on a TV show from the UK called The Generation Game. The aim of Play Your Cards right was to simply guess if the card would be higher or lower than the one previously. If you got all the way to end guessing correctly, you won a prize.
The game has been made into its own variation of TV shows around the world and some sportsbooks allow you to bet on if the player is going to win the grand prize or not. This is usually done by winning a round of games, then getting to the final and risking it all on one last game for the star prizes.
Play Your Cards Right is another that’s adapted to online casino and live casino games extremely well. The game barely changes and to win, you just need to keep guessing right. Interestingly, a lot of online slots have developed a similar game as part of bonus rounds and features.
Bet Live TV
Live betting has changed how many of us place online sports bets. The coverage that most games get is huge and most of the top leagues have all their matches go live within most sportsbooks.
Betting on live TV is not as popular, but still accessible. Bets are a little more random than reality and game show betting.
Examples would be something like betting on the color of the Queen’s hat as she enters Royal Ascot for the week or betting on the final song played at the halftime show in the Super Bowl.
Explore Our Expert-Written Sports Betting Guides
History of TV Betting
TV betting is not necessarily something that is all that new to the industry. We’re not sure exactly where it all started, but it’s widely believed that one of the first to take bets on TV betting markets was that of the bookmaker, Sonny Reizner, of Castaways Casino.
Reizner jumped on the hype of one of the biggest TV shows of all time, Dallas. The mystery around who shot J.R. was one of the biggest plotlines of the era and over 350 million people tuned in to find out that his sister-in-law, and former mistress, Kristin Shepherd, was the culprit.
Ironically, Reizner was forced to remove the bet and refund bets on request from the Gaming Control Board, citing that fraud could have taken place. Even though this bet was never settled, this was the start of things to come for TV Show betting.
It wasn’t until the rise of online betting did these bet types start to take off again. Popular bets included things like which character from the Sopranos would die in the last 20 episodes, who shot Mr. Burns from the Simpsons and a ton of prop bets all linked to the final season of Lost, including if the Island was just a dream or not?
These days TV betting is now part and parcel of most online sportsbooks. As you can see from our reviews of the best tv bet sites above, coverage is strong and the increase in popularity of reality TV has been a major driving force for this.
Why Bet on TV Shows?
TV show betting might not be for everyone, and it may seem a million miles away from sports betting, but there are several reasons why you would bet on TV Shows, which we’ve listed below.
One of the most common reasons is simply to get away from sports betting. Betting is a culture that is ingrained in sport, but TV show betting allows those who possibly don’t like sport to still get the same thrill betting on something that may be more to their taste.
Another reason is down to engagement. Let’s face it, we’ve all sat down to a TV series or a reality show and started to drift in and out when it comes to interest. Having a little bet on that show keeps interest high, as you get to see if your bet has paid off.
What you’ll find from a lot of sportsbooks is that betting limits on TV Shows are much lower than for most sports. The reason for this is that markets don’t see as much action, meaning bookmakers struggle to create books that are going to be profitable on all results.
These lower limits are ideal for people who might just be starting out betting or want to make sure that they stay within a budget. With sports, there’s often not much of a ceiling in terms of the amount you can bet, but with TV Show betting, it’s usually a fraction of a max sports bet.
TV and Film Betting
TV and Film betting is just as big as TV show betting for some sportsbooks. The range of bets is massive, and this is an area that changes much more frequently based on the number of new shows and movies that are released every year.
We’ve already touched on some of the big TV series, such as The Sopranos, The Simpsons, Lost, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad Stranger Things, Doctor Who and many, many more.
Film bets are usually a little more limited than TV and that’s mainly because there are fewer of them made. However, some of the most popular bets include choosing the next characters to play a lead role. James Bond is one of the most famous here, with speculation rife almost all year round.
Comic book series like Marvel and DC Comics have a plethora of characters to choose from and it’s not always the case that the same actor plays the role in each movie. Batman is another great example of this with stars such as Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, George Clooney, Val Kilmer, Adam West and the latest, Robert Pattinson all enjoying time in the infamous bat suit.
Betting between TV and Film is quite different. In most films, you’re betting on who’s playing lead roles and possibly bits of the plotline, but for TV, it’s almost exclusively about the plotline. There’s more value in this TV bet because of this you can often get a feel for what’s about to happen which allows you to place more informed bets.
However, the beauty of both TV and film means that you never really know, until you know!
Awards Show Betting
The culmination of a successful TV or film will mean recognition from peers. In turn, this leads to awards and there are plenty of award ceremonies that take place every year.
Some of the most prestigious include The Oscars, The BAFTA’s, Golden Globes, Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards and MOBO’s.
Betting for these usually entails picking the winner from the countless categories that are included with each award night. They could be things like a leading actor, leading actress, support roles, directors, producers and even the crew.
TV Show Betting FAQ
Can you bet on reality TV shows?
Can you bet on movies?
How do you bet on TV shows?
