Shark Week 2018 Shark Attack Proposition Betting Odds
–People have been fascinated by–and terrified of–sharks for centuries.
–Unprovoked shark attacks are rare, fatal attacks even more so.
–The Discovery Channel’s ‘Shark Week’ is now in its 29th year.
It was approximately a year ago that the mainstream media was in a lather over shark attacks. There had been what they suggested was an ‘unprecedented’ number of shark attacks in the United States. They speculated that surely 2017 would go down in history as the year with the most shark attacks in history and no doubt any number of people would die. At the time, I tried to put it in perspective:
It is simultaneously fascinating and bizarre that humans are still afraid of shark attacks. At one point it made at least a little bit of sense. When humans were forced to endure long journeys by sea to get anywhere worth going they faced danger from not only sharks but countless other natural forces including weather and the ocean itself. Early shark attacks were likely no more prevalent than they were today (in fact, there’s a good case to be made that they were less common) but were often conflated with mythical creatures such as ‘sea serpents’. If someone disappeared at sea human nature wanted an explanation and with none forthcoming these hapless souls turned toward their own mythical creations.
Fast forward to 2017 and the fact that anyone is seriously worried about shark attacks is borderline comical. A random American citizen has a statistically insignificant chance of being involved in a fatal shark attack. Living on or near the coasts makes it somewhat more likely but still statistically insignificant as we’ll discuss in a moment. It would be nice to affirm that humanity has evolved beyond this type of behavior but they haven’t as witnessed by the prevalence of Americans to swallow the propaganda about the virtually non-existent risk off harm by foreign terrorists hook, line and sinker. Compared the 1 in 46.1 million chance of being the victim of a fatal attack by a foreign terrorist being afraid of sharks looks logical by comparison.
2017 WAS AN AVERAGE YEAR FOR SHARK ATTACKS
When the chum cleared, 2017 ended up being a decidedly average year for shark induced carnage. Lindsay French is the database manager for the Florida Museum of Natural History–they maintain the ‘International Shark Attack File’–and he suggested that 2017 was a down right ho-hum year for shark attacks:
“It really was just an average year, and significantly, the U.S. saw no shark attack fatalities for the second consecutive year. While we don’t put too much emphasis on year-to-year changes, a slight increase is expected as beach tourism and water sports gain in popularity. And as has been the case for years, Florida saw more attacks (31) than any other state while Volusia County led the state in reported attacks with nine, 29 percent of Florida’s total.”
I added a little emphasis in there because it’s an important point. While the media might get hysterical over an uptick in anything they can get hysterical over including shark attacks it’s significant that actual scientists don’t concern themselves much with incremental changes from year to year. Of course, academics don’t live by the motto ‘if it bleeds it leads’. The mainstream media is losing relevance quickly and they’re desperate to do or say anything that will attract eyeballs. If that means pretending to be terrified over an inconsequential situation, so be it. This is also an important concept for sports handicappers. It’s crucial not to over react to a short term sample.
So what was the reality of the situation? There may have been a greater incident of shark attacks in some areas in the short term–particularly Southern California–but nothing worth getting hysterical about. There were a variety of theories that attempt to explain this but none are deserving of media hysteria. It wasn’t that long ago (2015-2016 to be specific) that the media was chortling about a record decline in shark bites. It’s not hard to experience huge percentage fluctuations from year to year when the number of shark attacks annually has never exceeded 100.
THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL’S SHARK WEEK 2018 IS HERE
People remain fascinated by sharks and that’s why the Discovery Channel’s annual ‘Shark Week’ has been such an enduring hit. It’s now in its 30th year and showing no signs of slowing down. The public loves the wall to wall shark programming and more recently they’ve started to get celebrities involved. The ‘shark attack oddsmaking specialists’ here at SPORTS BETTING EXPERTS thought that this would be the perfect time to get back in the water. Below are the odds for 2018 shark attacks along with a special ‘Shark Week 2018’ proposition wager:
DISCOVERY CHANNEL ‘SHARK WEEK 2018’ SHARK BITE PROPS
DISCOVERY CHANNEL ‘SHARK WEEK 2018’ PROPS
NUMBER OF SHARK ATTACKS REPORTED WORLDWIDE DURING THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL’S ‘SHARK WEEK 2018’?(JULY 22 AT 12:01 AM EDT TO JULY 28 AT 11:59 PM EDT)
Over 3.5: +130
Under 3.5: -150
2018 SHARK ATTACK STATISTICAL PROPS
TOTAL NUMBER OF REPORTED UNPROVOKED SHARK ATTACKS WORLDWIDE IN 2018?
Over 74.5: -210
Under 74.5: +180
WILL THE NUMBER OF REPORTED SHARK ATTACKS WORLDWIDE IN 2018 BREAK THE ALL TIME YEARLY RECORD OF 98 REPORTED IN 2015?
Yes: +600
No: -750
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL SHARK ATTACKS EXPERIENCED BY SURFERS IN 2018?
Over 54.5%: -130
Under 54.5%: +110
Activity in the Global Shark Attack File incident log must specifically indicate ‘surfing’. Any other water borne activity will not be included in total.
TOTAL NUMBER OF REPORTED UNPROVOKED SHARK ATTACKS IN THE UNITED STATES IN 2018?
Over 43.5: -170
Under 43.5: +150
US STATE WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF REPORTED SHARK ATTACKS IN 2018?
Florida: -250
Hawaii: +450
California: +600
South Carolina: +750
North Carolina: +1750
Texas: +2750
Oregon: +3500
New Jersey: +3750
Georgia: +4150
New York: +5000
Alabama: +5000
Any Other State: +15000
US COUNTY WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF REPORTED SHARK ATTACKS IN 2018
Volusia County, Florida (Daytona, New Smyrna Beach): -150
Brevard County, Florida (Cocoa Beach, Melbourne): +300
Maui County, Hawaii: +500
Palm Beach County, Florida: +900
Charleston County, South Carolina: +1500
Honolulu County, Hawaii: +1750
Horry County, South Carolina (Myrtle Beach): +2750
St. Johns County, Florida (St. Augustine Beach): +5000
NUMBER OF SHARK ATTACKS REPORTED IN FLORIDA IN 2018?
Over 23.5: -210
Under 23.5: +180
NUMBER OF SHARK ATTACKS REPORTED AT NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FLORIDA IN 2018?
Over 5.5: -250
Under 5.5: +210
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks in Florida: -150
Reported 2018 shark attacks in South Carolina + California + Hawaii + 10: +130
NUMBER OF SHARK ATTACKS REPORTED IN AUSTRALIA IN 2018?
Over 15.5: -180
Under 15.5: +150
AUSTRALIAN STATE/TERRITORY WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF REPORTED UNPROVOKED SHARK ATTACKS IN 2018?
Western Australia: +300
Queensland: +450
New South Wales: +125
Tasmania: +900
Victoria: +600
South Australia: +5000
Northern Territory: +5000
2018 SURF SPOT SHARK ATTACKS HEAD TO HEAD MATCHUPS
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Cocoa Beach, Florida: -180
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Hanaleai Bay, Hawaii: +150
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Bells Beach, Australia: -130
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Huntington Beach, California: +110
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Glenelg Beach, Australia: +180
Reported 2018 shark attacks at San Onofre State Beach, California: -210
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Crescent Head, Australia: -150
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Haleiwa, Hawaii: +130
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Scripps La Jolla, California: +250
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Jacksonville Beach, Florida: -300
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Mavericks, California: -120
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Gold Coast, Australia: +100
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa: -150
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Playa Brava, Ecuador: +130
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Manu Bay, New Zealand: -210
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Sigatoka, Fiji: +180
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Rincon, Puerto Rico: -180
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Hanaleai Bay, Hawaii: +150
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Bondi Beach, Australia: -300
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Teahupo’o, Tahiti: +250
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Ensenada, Mexico: -300
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Teahupo’o, Tahiti: +250
WHICH WILL BE HIGHER?
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Rincon, Puerto Rico: -180
Reported 2018 shark attacks at Rincon, California: +150
All proposition wagers will be graded based on unprovoked shark attacks only using data from the Shark Research Institute