Hobbies are excellent pastimes to which we usually dedicate as much of our spare time as we possibly can because of the joy, relaxation, or fulfillment they bring to us. However, some of them can prove to be quite lucrative to the point that they are considered genuine jackpot-winning hobbies.
Depending on your interests, talent, and skills, your hobby could easily turn into a thriving business or a side hustle that could generate a fresh stream of income. If you are looking for inspiration on how to choose some money-generating hobbies, we have prepared a brief list with a few recommendations of hobbies that make money, whether it’s using your online gambling skills, going treasure hunting, or reselling antiques. Without further ado, let’s get started!
#1: Metal Detecting/Treasure Hunting
Metal detecting is an excellent hobby that can be enjoyed outdoors while getting some exercise and potentially coming across some precious items that could feel like hitting a massive jackpot. This was the case of two Australian treasure hunters with a passion for scouring the beaches in their country equipped with metal detectors, in search of valuable items.
In 2018, the two friends came across a rare item assessed at $100,000 on a beach in Western Australia. The impressive finding of Leon Dechamps and Shayne Thomson at the Shark Bay dunes could now rewrite the history books.
The duo with a passion for metal detecting had a hunch that their discovery was a lot more important than they could have imagined. They, therefore, decided to invest $50,000 into the research that was needed to officially confirm that the artifact they found at the beach was in fact a genuine bronze infant Buddha statue from imperial China. The two friends went to the UK and made an appearance on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow where an Asian art expert announced the statue had in fact belonged to the 15th-century Ming dynasty. The expert also assessed the artifact at $100,000 and explained that it represents the oldest Chinese artifact in the history of the land Down Under ever to be discovered.
Besides coming across a valuable discovery that you can keep or sell, there are many other ways of making money using metal detectors. You can offer your services to people who have lost their jewelry, looking for dedicated jobs in museums and research institutes where metal detectorists are used to look for vintage minerals or offer your services to the police to find evidence in walls or underground.
#2: Organizing Closets
If you have a true passion for seeing clothes or kitchen items nicely aligned and organized using color codes and dozens of organizing boxes and tools, you could make a nice and oftentimes unexpected profit out of it. This was the case of Australian cleaner Charlotte Bosanquet who found an old penny assessed at around $40,000 while providing her services to a hoarder’s home in Sydney. While she was removing a carpet from the floor, she noticed a 1930 coin underneath the floor covering. The coin proved to be one of the rarest Aussie coins and also the most valuable penny made of copper ever to be discovered worldwide.
#3: Online Gambling
Who hasn't at least once dreamt about getting filthy rich while spinning the reels on a popular progressive jackpot game of slots or during a heated poker tournament online? Professional gamblers have made it their job to take risks and eventually see them pay off big. Ranging from attending important poker and slots tournaments online, playing the lottery, choosing the best progressive jackpot games with the best house edges, or providing your skills as a poker player, you could reach your goal in the blink of an eye, over the course of a few months, or in a couple of years, depending on the level of grind you are willing to put into your hobby.
Since the great majority of online real money casinos offer most of their games for free in demo or practice mode, you will have plenty of opportunities to figure out which games to direct your attention to. Plus, the generous welcome bonus packages consisting of free cash, no deposit bonuses, or free spins should give you additional reasons to want to embark on this journey.
#4: Betting on Sports
You could also consider betting on sports as a hobby and focus on winning multiple bets in a row while busy rolling your profits into your upcoming bets. Depending on the sports and teams you are interested in, you could easily gather some impressive wins in a short amount of time. Just be sure to choose a sport that you've done your research for. Another option you could try is to bet on multi-team parlay tickets.
#5: Antique Shopping
If you love to go shopping and you appreciate antique items and collectibles, this hobby could be just what you are looking for. Since there is no way of telling what will happen the next time you will go shopping for antiques, you could unexpectedly come across a highly valuable item you could buy and resell later on for a great profit, after some reconditioning work.
