Wikipedia
A sucker bet is a gambling wager in which the expected return is significantly lower than the wager(s).
Variants include:
- Parlay: One bet ticket written with at least two wagers (all must win for the ticket to cash).
- Teaser: A sucker wager that allows bettors to add and subtract points from posted odds.
- Exotic: Any wager other than a straight bet or parlay (also referred to as a proposition or prop).
For example, the chances of correctly guessing the order of the final 3 cards of Faro is usually 1 in 6, yet the bet only pays 4:1 or 5:1. Taking insurance in Blackjack is also often considered a sucker bet.
The name originates in that sucker bets are often created to lure inexperienced players into betting against large odds, blinded by the offer of "fast money".
Usage examples of "sucker bet".
Granted, it would take a while to amortize the capital costs, but with a guaranteed market like the Pentagon, that was a sucker bet.
The latter was close to being a sucker bet, as some probes, notably the ill-fated Soviet Phobos probes of the late twentieth century, had actually detected some water outgassing from the little moon.
Which was a sucker bet: Gronningen was a machine at any physical activity.