By specific scores, I mean, is there any sports betting house that takes wagers of, “You must get the score exactly right to win a payout?” For instance, if you predict the Bengals will beat the Steelers 27-17, or pick the Spurs to beat the Lakers 104-89, then the game outcome must be precisely that score - no more, no less. The odds of getting it right are extremely low, but then the payout would be commensurately huge if you win.
For some sports like hockey or soccer, this would take on a different nature; it’s very likely games will end 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 or some similar simple outcome, so it would be smaller payouts but also greater likelihood of guessing correctly.
Does any gambling house do something of this sort?
I don’t know about commercial books, but we had something similar at a place I worked, years ago.
Once a week, we’d pick a hockey game. Say, the Maple Leafs against the Red Wings. Then, we’d select our scores; for example, I might pick Maple Leafs 5, Red Wings 3; while Rob would select Maple Leafs 4, Red Wings 5. We had about six or seven regular participants, as I recall, though anybody was welcome to participate as they liked.
It cost a dollar to play. If no participant got the score exactly, the pot rolled over to the next week. And if nobody got it next week, then it just rolled over again. And so on, until somebody hit. I recall payouts in the $20 to $30 range mostly, though once we had the whopping payout of $55.
It was easy to organize, and no commercial book was needed. Might this be an idea for you and your friends or co-workers?
I’m looking on FanDuel right now at the possible wagers on the France/Norway World Cup game today. You can place a bet on any combination of the final score from 0 to 3. IOW, you can bet that the game will end in a 0-0 draw, or France will win 2-1, or Norway will win 3-2, etc.
The odds are decidedly different for each combination. For instance, a 0-0 draw is +2200, while a 3-3 draw is +3500. A 1-0 Norway victory is +1800, while a 1-0 France victory is +1000. And so on.
But as to your OP, I don’t think this is offered in the NBA or NFL. I haven’t ever looked an NHL game, and any MLB game is only offering bets on the correct score for each inning, which is limited to 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 0-1, 0-2, or ‘any other score’. There is no offering for a final score.
DraftKings offers a prop where you can bet a (concussion) football team to score within a range of points. I’ve tinkered with those, taking a team to score 14-19 points in a given game because I liked the situation.
Probably a dumb bet statistically but it’s fun and that’s why I gamble tiny sums in the first place.
My strategy exactly. Last year during the NBA playoffs I placed a bet on the Celtics to win by 15-17 points. They won by 16 and my $1 bet netted me something like 12 bucks. I was quite proud of myself.