Bad Bet
Someone asks a character to gamble or invest some money for them, and they think they won a bundle, but it turns out the person they asked to gamble for them never did it, either because they don't believe in gambling or they were convinced they would lose money. The plot usually involves either placing a bet, buying a lottery ticket, or buying stock.
The Addams Family
Appearances
- The Addams Family: Season 1, episode 19, "The Addams Family Splurges" (1965). The Addamses want to take a vacation on the moon and need to raise over $1 billion, so they decide to place some bets on horse races. Their bets net over $8 million, but they find out their business manager never placed the bets because he was convinced they would lose all their money.
- Diff'rent Strokes: Season 3, episode 9, "The Loan" (1981). Arnold lends Manny, the doorman, $100 to bet on a horse with the promise that he'll pay Arnold back $200 the next day, but Arnold gets nervous when the horse gets off to a bad start. Surprisingly, the horse ends up winning, and Arnold is excited to get his $200 payoff until Manny tells him he never placed the bet because he felt badly about taking Arnold's money, and he worried he might lose it.
- Cheers: Season 4, episode 12, "Fools and Their Money" (1985). After hearing the gang talk about betting on football, Woody decides he wants to place a bet with a really bookie. He gives Sam his life savings, $1,000, to place a parlay bet, but Sam, thinking he was protecting Woody, didn't place the bet, so when Woody thinks he won $10,000, Sam struggles to figure out what to tell him.
- Spin City: Season 3, episode 24, "Wall Street" (1999). James gives Mike his life savings to invest in a new online company called "Barky.com" because he once had a dog named Barky, but Mike is convinced James is making a mistake, so he doesn't invest the money, but the stock does well, and James is expecting a windfall, so he starts spending money like it's going out of style, and Mike scrambles to find a way to pay him his profits.
- Just Shoot Me!: Season 5, episode 9, "Dog Day Afternoon" (2000). Every day for years, Jack tells Finch to buy him a lottery ticket with the same number, and today it finally won him $50,000. The only problem is Finch didn't buy the ticket. He never does. He buys candy. So Finch and Nina put on an elaborate scheme to make Jack lose the ticket through an open window, but it backfires.
- Malcolm in the Middle: Season 6, episode 9, "Malcolm's Car" (2005). Malcolm has been helping Reese bet on horses, and they're making a bundle, but when Malcolm buys a crappy car and tries to fix it up, it consumes his whole life, and instead of betting with the $200 Reese gave him, he spent it on his car.