Our website uses cookies to provide your browsing experience and relevant information. Before continuing to use our website, you agree & accept our Cookie Policy & Privacy.
With Independence Day just days away, the land of the free has many yearly traditions to uphold. Cookouts, fireworks, lawn games, and Major League Baseball come to mind. But perhaps the most uniquely American ritual — which drives cable ratings annually and now devours Fourth of July sports betting — is the Nathan’s Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Competition.
The annual eating contest, which has been an official Fourth of July tradition since the 1970s, has unofficially been a Coney Island staple for over 100 years. The world champion of wiener-wolfing has been crowned exclusively at Nathan’s iconic original restaurant (with the exception of pandemic years 2020 and 2021), located at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood. It’s back at the OG location this year, and we’re back to bet on the wildly-popular event for the third consecutive year.
DraftKings became the first sportsbook to partner with the competition in 2000, ultimately offering odds for the men’s and women’s champion, odds for the field, and over/unders on total hot dogs consumed by each winner. Since then, most of the major books have followed suit, as more and more people recognize the eating contest as a sport.
“[Nathan’s Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Competition broadcaster] ESPN had already affirmed us as a sport in the early 2000s,” said Rich Shea, president of Major League Eating, last year after New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Colorado officially approved wagering on the event. “With legal betting, we are really now as legitimate as the NFL and the NBA.”
One thing’s for certain: the GOAT of hot dog eating, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, will garner the most action. A record 14-time champion, Chestnut won the competition every year from 2007 to 2014 and from 2016 to 2021. Last year at the Nathan’s warehouse, he broke his own 2020 record by one, downing a whopping 76 hot dogs and buns without spillage or pukage (known as “reversal of fortune” within the sport).
Chestnut has blown away the competition every year since Japanese competitor and six-time champion Kobayashi stopped appearing in 2007. Known as the “Godfather of Competitive Eating,” the Nagano native previously held the record with 53 dogs. Joey Jaws has bested that total all 15 years since, reaching 70 six different times.
If Chestnut is the Bill Russell of the men’s side (or Michael Jordan, take your GOAT), Miki Sudo is undoubtedly the Serena Williams of the women’s competition. Sudo won every year from 2014 to 2020, having unseated Sonya Thomas (the winner of the first three women’s contests from 2011 to 2013). She’ll be looking to dunk the competition upon her return Monday.
(Odds via BetMGM)
It sounds crazy, and you probably don’t have the mustard (or cheddar, for that matter) to bet a favorite at -3000 in a hot-dog eating contest, but Chestnut is the GOAT for a reason. He’s been untouchable in 13 of the past 14 events, and in six straight. We can’t advise you to bet $100 to win $103, but we also highly recommend avoiding the field. Joey Jaws won by 33 dogs two years ago!
Sudo, a proud American like Chestnut, stands as an incredible -5000 favorite to emerge triumphant upon her return to the contest on Monday. That’s just not a touchable line, especially considering Sudo is two years removed from the contest after having a baby last year. You might consider taking the value with the field at +1100, but don’t throw too much down or you could be playing ketchup the rest of the week.
Chestnut broke his own record inside the Nathan’s factory last year, as the event social-distanced for the second-straight year due to the pandemic. ESPN’s feed cut out multiple times during the event, including the last 15 seconds when Chestnut allegedly hit the 76th dog. This caused an uproar among viewers, some of whom wanted to see history and plenty more who bet the UNDER.of 73.5 at +110. Well, Chestnut and company are back to Coney Island this year — in front of fans again and a year older (the champ is 38). I’m taking the UNDER, as I just don’t think it’s possible for Joey Jaws to chomp down 75-plus dogs three years in a row.
Like I said, Sudo has been out of the game for two years. She should win, but it probably won’t be a 50-dogger as she shakes off some rust.
