well, nothing is guaranteed and the contests have lots of good entries but not many of it are done at a professional level so may be worth the shot
I don't think it's pure waste
I like the idea of thinking in bets.
just to make it clear I see no big problem on commissioning someone to participate unless it's clearly against the rules
Its not against the rules because it was stated before that you can passed an entry that made by the family members or anyone you know (not sure if the rules changed now).
As long as it is allowed, I also dont see a problem to pass a commission artwork. The bad side is, you have to pay someone just to have an entry and try your luck to win unlike if you're the one who created the artwok. You'll appreciate it more especially if you win since you exert time and effort to make your own artwork.