Much of the show focuses on the everyday occurrences in the lives of the protagonists. Sometimes, however, there are themed episodes. These might take place in a specific location, or revolve around one particular plot point. Some of the most iconic and memorable themed episodes feature bets that the friends place amongst themselves or other characters. These are regularly seen as some of the best bets on classic TV show.
The show is indicative of NYC in the 90s.
1. Season 3, Episode 13: “The Subway”
In “The Subway”, Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer all have unique experiences while riding the New York subway.
During his subway journey, Kramer overhears a betting tip on a horse race that one passenger is telling another. Kramer is on the subway because he is on his way to pay fines for his many parking violations. However, upon overhearing the betting tip, Kramer decides to use it to pay off his fines.
Kramer is known as a ”compulsive gambler”, who tries to avoid gambling as much as possible. But Kramer is successfully lured by the prospect of not having to pay the parking fines out of his pocket. He takes the overheard betting tip and goes to an off-track betting parlor that he frequents. He places a horse racing bet of a whopping $600, with 30-to-1 odds since the bet is on a rank outsider. Miraculously, Kramer wins the bet and makes $18,000! Kramer is delighted with his winnings, especially because the amount he wins is approximately what he owes in parking fines.
Unfortunately, as Kramer leaves the parlor, a man in a beret and trench coat follows him. They have a tussle over the money while on the subway. Kramer looks like he’s going to lose his winnings, but as he struggles for control, he bumps into a blind man with a fiddle, who turns out to be an undercover cop. The cop helps him hold on to his lucky win, and Kramer gets to keep his winnings.
2. Season 4, Episode 11: “The Contest”
In the S4 episode “The Contest”, Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer have a competition to see who can go the longest without masturbating. The creators of Seinfeld never used the word ‘masturbation’ throughout the episode because they were afraid that NBC wouldn’t air it if they did. Although it seemed like it would be controversial, “The Contest” won Larry David a PrimeTime Emmy Award as its writer.
The episode starts with George telling the gang how his mother accidentally caught him masturbating, resulting in her falling over in shock and getting injured. George promises his friends that he will never touch himself again. His friends are skeptical, and get the idea to have a contest. The winner of the contest would be the person who could go the longest without masturbating. The three men pool in $100 each, and Elaine puts in $150.
The rest of the episode follows the group trying to resist various temptations. Each character encounters it in a different setting. The day after the bet is made, Kramer sees a woman in a neighboring apartment who is walking around in the nude. He can’t resist, and ends up being the first loser of the competition. George, visiting the hospital to see his mother, encounters an extremely attractive nurse giving an equally attractive patient a sponge-bath. He restrains himself but has a restless night without any sleep.
Meanwhile, Elaine signs up for a fitness class. As luck would have it, another person who signs up is JFK Jr. They share a cab and are to go out on a date the next night. Elaine starts fantasizing and becomes the second loser, forfeiting $150.
At the same time, Jerry and his girlfriend Marla are having relationship troubles because Marla won’t engage in sexual intercourse. Determined to stay in the contest, Jerry attempts to control his urges by binge-watching children’s cartoons. When Marla is finally ready to have sex, Jerry ruins the moment by telling her about his contest. She storms out and encounters JFK Jr., who has come to meet Elaine. The two of them leave together, and the audience never finds out who won the contest.
3. Season 6, Episode 21: “The Diplomat’s Club”
“The Diplomat’s Club” shows Kramer going back to his gambling habit. While the rest of the gang get into a series of misadventures, Kramer spends most of the episode in an airport lounge called, of course, ‘The Diplomat’s Club’. Kramer is at the lounge because he’s waiting for Jerry to come back from a gig outside the city.
While Kramer waits at the lounge, he meets a wealthy man from Texas called Earl Haffler. The two start talking and somehow get into making bets on airplane arrival times. Early on, Kramer is on a losing streak, owing Earl thousands of dollars. He panics and asks Jerry’s nemesis Newman to bring some collateral to the airport so that he can go double or nothing. Somehow, Kramer’s luck turns, and now Earl is the one who owes him thousands.
Sadly for Kramer, his friends manage to muff this one up for him. Right when Earl is writing Kramer a check, Elaine arrives at the lounge, talking about how Jerry caused one of the flights to be delayed. Earl is immediately convinced that the whole thing was rigged, and tears up his check. Poor Kramer!
4. Season 8, Episode 15: “The Susie”
In “The Susie”, Kramer’s friend Mike becomes a professional bookie. Seeing an opportunity to return to his gambling habit, Kramer asks Jerry to place bets with Mike.
Jerry agrees, and Kramer returns vicariously to his gambling addiction. Things go well for the pair, with Jerry winning the bets. But sadly, Mike can’t pay up what he owes Jerry.
In a hilarious turn of events, Jerry accidentally slams his car’s trunk down on Mike’s hand, breaking both his thumbs. Mike is now terrified of Jerry, thinking him to be some kind of dangerous gangster. He scrambles to get back into Jerry’s good books by trying to fix his trunk. In the process, unfortunately, Mike gets trapped in the trunk. This effectively puts an end to Kramer’s gambling.
While all this is happening, George and Elaine are up to their own shenanigans as usual. Elaine gets herself into trouble by not correcting someone’s misconception that she’s named Susie. Now she has to pretend that there really is a person called Susie. Typically, Elaine takes this as far as it can possibly go. Jerry is fed up, and tells her that she needs to “eliminate Susie”. Back in the trunk of Jerry’s car, Mike overhears this and figures that Jerry is talking about killing off somebody named Susie. His fear of Jerry increases manifold.
The episode proceeds to show how all these complications play out. In typical Seinfeld fashion, Kramer comes out of things mostly unharmed, while the others are stuck in absurd situations of their own making.
5. Season 9, Episode 2: “The Voice”
In “The Voice”, the main storyline revolves around Jerry becoming obsessed with a voice that he imagines coming from his girlfriend’s stomach. He uses the voice with his friends, who all find it extremely funny. When he talks about it to Claire, his girlfriend, she gets offended and leaves him. When Jerry pleads with her to get back together with him, she says she’ll only do so if he promises never to do ‘the voice’ again. In typical fashion, Jerry decides he prefers the hilarity of the voice to getting back together. Sadly for him, his friends are all tired of the voice by then and no longer find it funny.
Meanwhile, Elaine bumps into an ex of hers, David Puddy. Jerry tells her she’s going to get back together with him, which Elaine finds annoying. She declares that she won’t. Not convinced, Jerry gets her to bet him $50 that she won’t start dating Puddy again.
The next day, Elaine is in the same clothes, which doesn’t escape Jerry’s attention. He accuses her of getting back together with Puddy, to which she objects that a one night stand isn’t the same as being in a relationship. But then Puddy remarks that he much prefers causal sex with Elaine to being in a committed relationship. Offended, Elaine becomes official with Puddy out of spite.
Elaine and Jerry continue with their bet, with Elaine going double or nothing on not getting back together with Puddy. Despite this, Elaine tells Puddy that they’re meant to be in a relationship, and should put an end to their on-again, off-again pattern. At this point, however, Puddy is not interested in being committed to Elaine, and breaks the whole thing off. Elaine loses the bet and pays up.
Frequently Asked Questions
We hope you enjoyed reading about the wacky bets on Seinfeld. These five episodes capture the essence of what makes Seinfeld one of the best shows of all time. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions on Seinfeld and gambling. If you want to learn more about TV shows and betting, click here.
What types of sports betting did the characters take part in?
In one episode of Seinfeld, Cosmo Kramer bets on a horse race. The other instances of gambling don’t usually involve sports. For the best horse racing betting sites for 2022, click here
Which Seinfeld character won the most bets?
Out of the four protagonists, Kramer was the one who gambled the most, and consequently won the most bets. In general, Kramer had a ton of good luck, and always managed to get himself out of trouble. Do you want to play casino games set in a fictional universe? Click here!
What other forms of gambling were depicted in the show?
Apart from sports bets, the characters on the show bet on aircraft arrival times, who can go the longest without masturbating, whether one of them would get back with their ex, and more. For more on gambling, read here about the multi-million dollar gambling trips that Jho Low went on.
