Betting on the Scripps National Spelling Bee

Did you know that you can bet on the Scripps National Spelling Bee online? It’s true. This guide will show you how.

Your first step? You’ll want to join one of the best National Spelling Bee betting sites.

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Choosing where to bet on the National Spelling Bee is the first and most important step because it impacts everything. The site you join affects the types of bets you make, prices you pay, and the bonuses you can claim.

The site you join can even impact whether you’re paid your winnings.

Don’t worry. Joining the best site for betting on the spelling bee is easier than spelling words like erysipelas, bougainvillea, aiguillette, and pendeloque—all words the 2019 co-champs had to spell.

But we can only guarantee this if you join one of our recommended betting sites. Otherwise, you’re on your own. We’ll talk more about our recommendations in the next section.

After that, you’ll find a few tips for how to boost your profits on your spelling bee bets. One tip we share is to use all the data you can find.

This brings us to the next section where we share some of the data we’ve found from previous spelling bees, as well as polls and other data taken about the American public’s ability to spell.

Everything in this guide is included to help you find a site and start making profitable bets on the Scripps National Spelling Bee fast. 

Our Recommended Spelling Bee Betting Sites

The worst thing you can do is join the wrong betting site. Do that and the best-case scenario is having too few National Spelling Bee betting markets to wager on or cruddy promotions.

You don’t want to know the worst-case scenario. We’re not trying to scare you. We’re being truthful with you and the potential risks of joining a subpar betting site.

The good news is that there’s a quick and painless way to all but guarantee you’ll join a top-shelf betting site. And that’s to join one of the top National Spelling Bee betting sites we endorse.

Here’s why you should strongly consider going this route.

  • Our team has more than one century of combined experience betting online.
  • Our reviews and rankings are transparent. Every review we publish has both positive and negative remarks. We have yet to publish the perfect review, and that’s because the perfect online gambling site doesn’t exist.

We spend a lot of time, effort, and resources to write our reviews. We spend hours combing through and testing each site to ensure they are safe, secure, and offer an excellent betting platform.

This means double checking that every betting site has a gambling license, positive reputation, plenty of banking options and promotions, and much more. We include these details in every review we publish, so you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into.

We ensure that every site has a gambling license, positive reputation, banking options, promotions, and more. And all the details are included in our reviews, so you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into.

We then rank the best National Spelling Bee betting sites, the ones with the best markets and odds, from best to worst and publish it for you to use.

It’s hard to get across everything we do to ensure you join only the safest and highest-quality betting sites for betting on the spelling bee online. But if you read our reviews and test the betting sites we endorse, we’re confident you’ll see that our recommendations are on point.

Spelling Bee Betting Sites

How to Bet on the National Spelling Bee

In this section, we’re going to briefly explain how to bet on the Scripps National Spelling Bee online. If you already know how to bet online, then you can skip ahead to our markets or betting tips sections.

For everyone else, we’re going to summarize what you need before you can place your first bet online. And we’ll go over the spelling bee markets you can expect to find online and share a few examples of what those might look like.

You need to have each of the following completed before you can make your first bet online.

Choose a Betting Site

We’ve talked about this at length already. The fastest way to find a site is to join one of the National Spelling Bee betting sites we endorse.

Your other option is to search through all the options yourself, which can be time-consuming and painful.

Create an Account

You need an account with every online sportsbook or bookmaker you want to place a bet with. This means you’ll need to give them your name, address, email, phone number, and so on.

Bookmakers need this info so they can confirm it’s legal for you to use their site, and so they know where to send your winnings.

Make a Deposit

Next, you need to make a deposit. Otherwise, how else will you make a real money bet?

Every betting site we endorse accepts Visa and Mastercard. And most sites accept e-wallets like Skrill and Neteller, as well as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin.

All you need to do is head to the cashier and follow their directions. Do this, and you’ll have money in your account within minutes.

And …that’s it. These are the must-haves. You can’t make a bet without choosing a betting site, creating an account, and making a deposit.

Now, you’re ready to make your first bet on the Scripps Spelling Bee.

Placing Bets on the Scripps Spelling Bee

The exact markets (what you can bet on) will vary from one betting site to the next. That’s why we suggest you have more than one account. That way, you’ll have a large variety of bets to choose from.

The most common types of bets you can make are outrights, moneylines, futures, over/unders, and props.

Here are some examples of markets and odds you can find when you join the best sites for betting on the spelling bee online.

Number of letters in the winning word
  • Over 9.5 (+100)
  • Under 9.5 (-140)
Will the winner have braces?
  • Yes (+200)
  • No (-300)
Will the winner be wearing glasses?
  • Yes (-149)
  • No (+100)
Will there be co-champions?
  • Yes (+250)
  • No (-400)
Will the winner be male or female?
  • Male (-130)
  • Female (-110)

Now that you know how to get started with an online bookmaker or sportsbook, and the types of markets you can bet on, the next step is to learn a couple of strategies to increase your chances of winning.

Scripps Spelling Bee Betting Tips and Strategies

It’s tough to bet on the spelling bee because there’s not much that repeats every year. They don’t use the same words each year. And the competitors are always changing.

The point is that betting on the spelling bee isn’t like betting on sports where teams, players, rules, etc. are the same each year. It’s almost like you’re starting from scratch.

The good news is that there are still a few tips and strategies you can use to increase your betting profits. Here are a few we suggest you start with first.

Bet Early

Some of the best betting sites for the National Spelling Bee post their lines one to two months before the competition. This is a great time to bet because this is when you find underpriced lines.

You’ll increase your chances of finding underpriced lines and making profitable bets early on if you’re familiar with the few trends and data points that exist for the spelling bee.

We’ll share those in a moment.

Compare Odds Before You Bet

ALWAYS compare the odds between two or more bookmakers before you place your bet. You never know when you’re going to find some easy money.

What do we mean by that? Well, bookmakers post different lines. And the differences between these lines can present an opportunity to save some money or make some easy money.

Here’s what that might look like. Say you want to bet on the National Spelling Bee and find the following odds at two sportsbooks.

  • -120
  • -110

The -110 line is the best one to take because you’re risking $10 less than the first bet. Why risk more money if you don’t have to? Now, flip these around.

  • +120
  • +110

The first line is the best one to take because you’re setting yourself up to win an extra $10 if your bet wins.

Do you see how easy this is? And all you had to do is compare two or more betting sites that you have accounts with.

This is the other reason why we recommend you join more than one betting site for betting on the National Spelling Bee.

Try to Find Value

Another tip is to find value in bets. This is as simple, or complicated, as finding a discrepancy between how often you think an outcome occurs and the odds a bookmaker is offering.

For example, say you want to bet on the over/under that the winning word will have nine letters in it. You’re getting -130 on the under and +100 (even money, no vig) on the over.

Now, you look at the data. The data says that over the last 10 years, 60% of the winning words had nine letters or less. The other 40% had more than nine letters.

The -130 is an okay bet. It’s the favorite and what you must risk to win is on point with how often this outcome is supposed to happen.

That said, the +100 bet (for over nine words) has extra value since you’re getting even money on an outcome that’s going to happen less than 50% of the time.

Learn how to spot value and you’ll come across all sorts of profitable opportunities that beginners overlook.

Watch the Spelling Bee

Watch the spelling bee so you can see which contestants get tripped up on words and the types of words they struggle with.

For example, maybe a kid struggles with silent vowels or longer words. Even if you manage to get one right, it’s possible they lose later in the competition because of those words.

You can take advantage of this if you’re able to make an in-play bet. And you’re more likely to turn a profit compared to the “set it and forget it” types of novelty bettors.

Look at the Kids’ Pictures

You’ll notice that a few of the betting markets revolve around the kids’ appearances, things like which kids are wearing braces or glasses.

Well, the only way to figure this out is to scope out the National Spelling Bee’s website and see which kids have braces or glasses.

Keep in mind that some kids may wear contacts and others might not smile in their picture. So, you’ll have to just do your best.

That said, this is a simple tip that most people will ignore. That’s not the only simple thing that people get wrong. The next section looks at dumb spelling mistakes that many people make.

Common Spelling Errors, Mistakes, and Other Facts

Here are some trends and statistics about the types of kids who win the spelling bee and the types of words people struggle to spell the most.

  • A contestant of Indian background has won every year since 2008.
  • In 2019, six of the eight co-champions were Indian.
  • 25 Indian contestants have won since 1985.

Here are the most common types of words people screw up.

  • Nouns – 4%
  • Adjectives – 3%
  • Verb – 2.2%
  • Adverb – 1.9%

Here are some words that people struggle to spell, either because there’s an incorrect, yet popular alternative spelling, or because there’s an alternative word that sounds the same but has a different meaning.

  • Accept vs. except
  • Affect vs. effect
  • A lot vs. allot
  • Allusion vs. illusion
  • Awhile vs. a while
  • Cache vs. cash
  • Principle vs. principal

That’s why spelling bee competitors will ask the judges to use a word in a sentence. That way, they can get some context around the word to know which type of word they should spell.

  • The last 11 spelling bee competitions had 21 winners (13 boys and eight girls).
  • 13 of the last 21 winners have worn glasses. Eight winners have not.
  • In nearly 100 years of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, there have been seven sets of co-champs.
  • More than 65% of contestants go to public schools. 18% go to private schools and 5.6% are homeschooled.

Here’s how often words are misspelled based on the letter they start with.

  • O = 6%
  • C = 5.9%
  • D = 5.7%
  • I = 4.6%
  • S = 4.5%
  • P = 4.3%

Here’s how often words are misspelled based on the number of letters in them.

  • 12 letters = 5.4%
  • 10 letters = 4.5%
  • 6 letters = 4.1%
  • 5 letters = 4.1%
  • 14 letters = 4%

It’s interesting to see that a 14-letter word is easier to spell than the rest, but that’s because you can take a word this long and break it into smaller components so that it’s easier to spell.

Scripps Spelling Bee Betting FAQ

How can I watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

You can watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee on ESPN.

How soon can I bet on the spelling bee?

Some betting sites will post their odds only a few days or weeks out, but others post their odds as much as two to three months out.

It just depends on which betting site you join.

Is it legal to bet on the spelling bee?

Yes and no. You’re unlikely to find any spelling bee betting action at US-based betting sites. This is because most states have laws outlawing betting on amateur sports.

You shouldn’t struggle too much to find action at offshore betting sites, but whether it’s legal for you to bet on the spelling bee depends on where you live. Most people are fine. But you should check with your local authorities if you have any doubts or questions.

What do the winning spelling bee winners get?

Every spelling bee competitor paid $1,500 to compete in 2019. Here’s what the top six payouts looked like in 2019.

  • First place: $40,000 + a $2,500 savings bond
  • Second place: $30,000
  • Third place: $20,000
  • Fourth place: $10,000
  • Fifth place: $5,000
  • Sixth place: $2,500

Everyone eliminated in rounds four through six received a $500 gift card. And anyone who misspelled a word in round seven through seventh place received $2,000.

There’s big money in spelling bee contests. It’d make you jealous if it weren’t for the fact that you can bet on it.

Summarizing Our Spelling Bee Betting Guide

The kids who win the Scripps National Spelling Bee win huge cash prizes every year. Why not try to win some money from the spelling bee, too?

The good news is that you can, but only if you join one of the top-rated sites for betting on the National Spelling Bee.

The top sites will have plenty of betting markets, fair odds, promotions, and the reputation for paying their customers quickly.

You can try to find a betting site on your own, but it can take you weeks and hundreds of dollars to review them thoroughly. Most people don’t have that extra time or money to waste. We’re betting you don’t either.

A much better approach is to join one of the sites we endorse. We’ve already spent the time and money to vet each one, so you know they’re safe and secure.

The bottom line is, if you want to join one of the best Scripps National Spelling Bee betting sites, then select a site from our list of recommendations and create your account now.

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Kevin
Roberts
Content Editor
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Kevin Roberts, previously published under the pseudonym Noah Davis, is one of the more diverse writers at GamblingSites.com. Like many of his colleagues, he's a huge fan of both football and basketball. But he also writes about box office records, TV show prop bets, DFS, and all kinds of other subjects. When it comes to the NFL, Kevin's favorite team is the Green Bay Packers. He enjoys cheering them on with his wife and daughter.