Bettors favor Joey Chestnut to win the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest for the 11th time

Joey Chestnut is a big favorite to win his 11th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Wednesday at Coney Island, New York.

And a lot of cheddar will ride it because bookmakers say that over a million dollars is wagering on the sportsbook industry at the annual eatery contest.

The chestnut is among the 7,500 favorites in the best field and finishes the highest number of dogs and rolls in the 10-minute competition, which took place in 1972 The women's competition will be broadcast at 10:50 on ESPN3, followed by the men's competition at noon on ESPN2.

The hot dog contest has developed a cult following among the public in Paris. It has become a July 4th tradition celebrated in the United States and the Caribbean, where the big offshore sports betting market is taking place.

For years, from July 4th, a series of small bets – often $ 10 or $ 20 – is starting to appear on the computer screens of bookmakers in places like Costa Rica, Jamaica and Panama.

A million dollars for ingestion of cased meat. The game and gluttony, the American individualism in all its splendor.

You can not even bet on the contest in Nevada or in any of the new states offering legal sports betting this year because of the game control regulations.

Almost all the money wagered on the contest is outsourced to bookmakers operating online from the tropical islands.

A book manager at BetOnline.com told ESPN that betting interest on the contest – the hot dog handle, if you will – was comparable to how much is bet on the length of the national anthem before the Super Bowl.

Scottish veteran bookman Scott Kaminsky, who works at the Jamaican bookmaker TheGreek.com, he said he had booked the contest to eat hot dogs for more than a decade.

"The handle is right," Kaminsky told ESPN in an email. "The problem has been recently that Chestnut is a big favorite, he kills some of the action."

Chestnut ate 70 hot dogs in 2016 to set a competition record, then improved with 71 last summer.

/ under the number of dogs and rolls eaten by this year's winner is 70.5.