Definition of "side bet"
side bet
noun
plural side bets
(gambling) A bet on some aspect of a game or competition that is not the main bet of the game or the prize of the competition; proposition bet.
Quotations
Developing a lucrative side bet for baccarat, blackjack, craps, or roulette may be an attractive pursuit for a casino game designer because the basic game is in place; the side bet can be marketed to casinos as an add-on to a game already on offer.
2021, Mark Bollman, Mathematics of The Big Four Casino Table Games
(business) An investment or risk undertaken by a company that is not part of its core business.
Quotations
While this may reflect the relative low-key presence of small business representatives in Washington, I think it more reflects the basic prejudice of the small business case by the indifference and inattention of policy-makers to what they regard as a side-bet or peripheral issue regarding small business.
1979, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Small Business. Subcommittee on Special Small Business Problems, Impact of Federal Regulation on Small Business, page 24
A telling example of managing a side bet can be seen in the Garcia Tuñon company of Venezuela, which for two generations had specialized in a General Motors dealership through considerable economic and political turbulance. A third-generation wanted to continue the dealership and related businesses but also to diversify away from the car industry without incurring too much reputational risk. So while managing and growing the core business, he tinkered with Internet-based business opportunities but kept these explorations away from the company brand to preserve the legacy in case they did not work.
2016, Allan Cohen, Pramodita Sharma, Entrepreneurs in Every Generation, page 135
(sociology) An investment of time, money, or resources that reinforces one's commitment to a course of action.
Quotations
It is assumed in these studies, for instance , that : (1) age "is" a side bet because the longer an employee is in an organization the more benefits he has "built up" and that (2) the nature or the correlation between age and desire to stay in the organization is used as confirming or disconfirming evidence of the side bet stature of the age variable.
1987, International Review for the Sociology of Sport - Volume 22, page 256