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Here at LiveBetsDirect, the emphasis is on non-sports betting, but who can ignore the overbearing presence of the 2010 FIBA World Cup and the warping effect it’s surely having at bookmakers all over the globe? (Indeed, this event is expected to be the largest wagered-upon event in the history of humanity with over £1 billion in formal, legal betting alone predicted.)

Just as naturally, there’s still plenty of weirdness to be had within bet365’s World Cup proposition lines. Go extreme in considering some of the following props…

No European team has ever won a World Cup hosted in the Americas; only once has a South American team (the awesome 1958 Brazil side) won the tournament when played in Europe. Brazil hoisted history’s sole Asia-hosted Cup in Japan in 2002. But Africa … well, there’s no precedent for this.

Therefore the “Winning Continent” prop, which looks like this:

Europe: 1/2
South America: 2/1
Rest of world: 10/1

The odds on South America seem slightly long in this prop, particularly if, like most observers, you’re taking Argentina seriously in this thing. (LBD isn’t: The Argentinians are this tournament’s shocking early exit – mark these words.)

Hand in hand with the “Winning Continent” proposition bet is the “Will a Country Win the World Cup for the First Time this Year?” offer:

Yes: 13/10
No: 4/7

In other words, punters are essentially being offered lines to take a pool of Spain, Holland, Portugal, all six African nations, Mexico, the USA and a bunch of absolutely-no-chancers while the host gets Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Uruguay: A group which includes four of the six favorites.

At first glance, LBD thinks “No” is the best bet on this one, yet with the exception of Brazil, none of that group of seven teams inspires much confidence. Not an easy choice here.

The biggest time-waster on the bet365 World Cup props board? O, easily the “Winner And Top Goalscorer” prop, one heckuva mind-bending parlay. The bookmaker has 35 combinations listed; running below are the 20 or so with the shortest odds – just to get you started, you understand.

Argentina & Diego Milito: 80/1
Argentina & Gonzalo Higuain: 66/1
Argentina & Leo Messi: 20/1
Argentina & Sergio Aguero: 66/1
Brazil & Luis Fabiano Clemente: 22/1
Brazil & Honorato da Silva Nilmar: 66/1
Brazil & Ricardo Kaka: 80/1
Brazil & Robinho: 66/1
England & Jermain Defoe: 100/1
France & Thierry Henry: 100/1
Germany & Mario Gomez: 100/1
Germany & Miroslav Klose: 100/1
Holland & Robin Van Persie: 33/1
Italy & Alberto Gilardino: 80/1
Portugal & Cristiano Ronaldo: 80/1
Spain & David Villa: 16/1
Spain & Didier Drogba: 100/1
Spain & Fernando Torres: 28/1
Spain & Wayne Rooney: 50/1

Finally, there’s LBD’s favorite team in this tournament: North Korea. The enigma, the mystery, the product of 19th-century technology, the 1500/1 underdog … If this side, which recently discovered that due to an error by coach Kim-Jong Hun, one of its leading strikers will be forced to play goalkeeper in the tournament, doesn’t put in one of the worst performances the World Cup has ever seen, it will be a miracle.

(Incidentally, these guys were smoked by Nigeria, 3-1, in a friendly match earlier this week.)

In bet365’s “Scorecast” betting, punters may wager on exact scores of any match. Apparently in order to make things a bit more challenging for North Korea (and to give Clemente a jump toward winning the Golden Boot), FIFA organizers scheduled its first match against Brazil. And the Scorecast says:

North Korea 1, Brazil 0: 50/1
North Korea 2, Brazil 0: 150/1
North Korea 2, Brazil 1: 66/1
North Korea 3, Brazil 1: 450/1
North Korea 3, Brazil 2: 300/1

North Korea 0, Brazil 0: 16/1
North Korea 1, Brazil 1: 20/1
North Korea 2, Brazil 2: 50/1
North Korea 3, Brazil 3: 300/1

Brazil 1, North Korea 0: 6/1
Brazil 2, North Korea 0: 15/4
Brazil 3, North Korea 0: 9/2
Brazil 4, North Korea 0: 13/2
Brazil 5, North Korea 0: 11/1
Brazil 6, North Korea 0: 22/1…

You get the idea.

With as insanely bad as North Korea is fit to be, LBD has just one major question for the bookmakers. Scan down to the bottom of the “Outright Winner” table and you’ll find:

…Algeria: 750/1
Honduras: 1,000/1
North Korea: 1500/1
New Zealand: 2000/1

In the parlance of our times, WTF? Who the hell are the All Whites bringing to this competition that the ‘book seems them as 25% less likely to take this thing? Is anyone actually, you know, *animate* going to be playing for New Zealand? Seriously, Kiwis, what gives here?