Last-Minute Gift Ideas for the Sports and Horse Racing Bettor on Your List

Pop Culture
Fans celebrate cashing a winning ticket at the racetrack. ABR’s Dan Tordjman has a last-minute holiday gift guide for the sports and horse racing gambler in your life. (Penelope P. Miller/America's Best Racing)

If you enjoy betting on the races or you’ve got someone in your life who loves the ponies, what better time to score a winning gift than this holiday season? If you’re like me and you also like betting on other sports, I’ve got a couple of awesome — and timely — gift ideas for you.

Betting Books

There’s a book for everything and, as you might’ve guessed, there are plenty of books on sports betting. Amazon has a whole page dedicated to sports betting books, as well as horse betting books, specifically. The classics include “Sharp Sports Betting,” by Stanford Wong, “Weighing the Odds in Sports Betting,” by King Yao, “Mathletics,” by Wayne Winston, and “The Signal and the Noise,” by Nate Silver. On the racing side, you can’t go wrong with any of Andy Beyer’s classics. While some of it is outdated, a lot of the foundational principles still apply from his “Picking Winners” and “The Winning Horseplayer.”

Gear & Memorabilia

Just like books, there’s a shirt and hat for everything, too. If you’re not shy about your love of sports betting, why not rock a tee and a cap proclaiming your love of the action? The “-6 1/2” point spread shirt is a personal favorite. You can find it here in various styles and sizes (or it can be purchased in mug form for coffee lovers). There’s also this mug, which had me cracking up! For the indiscreet, there’s the “Eat, sleep, bet, repeat” shirt. There’s also an entire “Sports Betting is Cool” line from Degenerate Products, highlighted by this sweet ornament.

If you really want to splurge for the horse lover in your life, you’ve got a limited opportunity this year to pick up a piece of racing history for them. With Belmont Park undergoing a total renovation, the home of the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown is selling chairs and benches from the historic track. What better seating for that “man cave” or betting basement? Also for the man cave, you can apparently now get a Vegas-style live odds LED sports ticker. Check this out!

Mobile and/or TV Season Packages

If you’re a sports bettor, you know how stressful it can be to find out that the game you bet on isn’t on TV! You could go to a sports site and continually refresh the score page, but what fun is that? Make it easy on yourself or the closest sports bettor in your life, and sign up for a season package.

Football season is almost over but the NBA and NHL packages are reasonably priced and they’ll ensure that you can watch every basketball or hockey game you bet on, all the way through next summer. There are also monthly packages available for under $30 and the packages can be synced with mobile devices so that you can watch on the go … and you will!

Stress Relief

There’s no doubt that the life of a sports bettor can be stressful. With that in mind, a handy stress ball or stress wad of cash! If you or someone you know hits a slump, you might want to consider investing in a crystal ball to start spotting some winners — conveniently, Etsy can put you onto a variety of crystal balls.

Celebration

Assuming you’re on a lucky streak, there are a few essentials that every sports bettor wants and needs, including cigars and spirits. For the former, refer to Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 list. On the drink side, we love some good bourbon in the racing world so we’d steer you in that direction. The Woodford Reserve Kentucky Derby bottle makes for a nice collectible (in addition to being a smooth pour), as does the Calumet Farm Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey Collection.

Road Trip

The days of needing to fly out to Vegas to legally bet on sports are long gone. There are sports books popping up across the country — many of which are at or near horse tracks. So, fill up the tank, pack the Slim Jims and Red Bulls and hit the road. A quick Google search should land you on the sports book or racetrack closest to you!

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