Bender being illogical in WMIBACIL

[on:]

Yo-ho!

So, everybody is betting money on Fry and Zoidberg as they are about to fight.  It is obvious that in the eyes of the crowd Fry doesn't stand a chance (as illustrated by Zoidberg's "large bet on myself in round one" ).  So, say, people are betting that Zoidberg will defeat Fry 1:20.  They pay Bender 20 bucks, if Zoidberg wins they get 21 bucks, if Fry wins they are outta 20 bucks, and Bender is 20 bucks richer.

So why does Bender ask Fry to "be a friend and die"?  He would be out of a HUGE stock of money then, no?

[Reply #1 on:]

As far as I remember it was the other way around. It wouldn't make much sense like that.

[Reply #2 on:]

Yeah, Zoidberg were the odds-on favorite in the fight. The logical thing would be to bet on Zoidberg, but humans (and, I assume, humanoid lobster-monsters) aren't logical beings.

Betting on Zoidberg will give you a really good chance of a small winning, betting on Fry will give you a small chance of a huge winning. Some people will bet on the favorite, but many people will rather go for the smal chance of hitting the jackpot (otherwise bookmaking would be a very poor business).

Bender quickly counted the bets, calculated which outcome would give him the largest profit and asked Fry to take a dive.

Alternatively people were betting on which round the match would end too. Then most people would bet on Zoidberg in round 1.

Either way, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion Bender would be the real winner.