# Longest odds on any major sporting event involving two teams/players? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 13, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-odds-on-any-major-sporting-event-involving-two-teams-players/673847 "2013-11-13T19:18:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-odds-on-any-major-sporting-event-involving-two-teams-players/673847/21 "2013-11-16T06:55:41Z")
Large point spreads/odds always remind me of the 2007 USC vs. Stanford football game. USC was a 41 point favorite over Stanford. Final score: Stanford 24 USC 23 ---
**Author:** ![mrpayday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@mrpayday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrpayday)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-odds-on-any-major-sporting-event-involving-two-teams-players/673847/22 "2013-11-16T06:59:22Z")
I seem to recall the Rugby Union World Cup NZ v Namibia being -110. I think Namibia only lost by 105 to cover. Some sports are reliable and some are prone to upsets. Soccer, I’ve seen a few red cards, penalty kicks, better team can’t score so the underdog can get an unlikely win. Women’s tennis, upsets all the time. Of course at 1000-1 on i think you could find something at 5-1 on or 10-1 on that is almost as good a bet. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-odds-on-any-major-sporting-event-involving-two-teams-players/673847/23 "2013-11-16T15:09:32Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Actually a 60 point start sounds about right. Short of the Australian team failing to show up at all I can’t think of how the USA could beat them. Good estimate! 😃 The final score was Australia 62 - 0 USA ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-odds-on-any-major-sporting-event-involving-two-teams-players/673847/24 "2013-11-16T16:04:25Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > I remember reading a few years ago about someone who tried to parlay a small initial stake into a much larger sum by only betting on “sure things” (i.e. bets of 1-1000 or greater), so their risk was very small each time. Of course, so were their winnings, but the idea was to find enough of these bets that over time, compound interest would take effect. I believe they decided at the start not to bet on football (soccer) as it was too random. But they lost their entire stake when a cricket match dramatically swung the other way, against their bet. That’s the basic flaw of the Martingale betting system - the remote odds against losing are more than compensated for by the huge loss, and the slow gains mean you’re going to be kept in the game for a long time; long enough for the “remote” odds to be anything but. After that, it’s just a question of whether the basic odds make the game fair in the first place. Roulette wheel odds always favour the bank; they continue to favour the bank no matter what betting system you try to apply. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-odds-on-any-major-sporting-event-involving-two-teams-players/673847/25 "2013-11-16T19:13:46Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Good estimate! 😃 > > The final score was Australia 62 - 0 USA Unfortunately I didn’t have a thousand dollars lying around to get my one dollars return. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-odds-on-any-major-sporting-event-involving-two-teams-players/673847/26 "2013-11-17T04:51:22Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, back when Mike Tyson was heavyweight boxing champion, he had several fights in which Vegas simply didn’t take bets, because their oddsmakers calculated that they’d have had to offer insane odds in order to attract any action on Tyson’s opponents. Including the fight with Buster Douglas that cost him his title. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-odds-on-any-major-sporting-event-involving-two-teams-players/673847.md?page=1)