They correctly predicted the names of both the royal babies, George and Charlotte, and had Sam Smith as the favorite to sing the Spectre theme song despite his false protests. But how will British bookmakers fare at the Oscars?
Should their odds be any indicator of success, then nothing should stop Leonardo DiCaprio from claiming his first Academy award. The star is the runaway favorite to scoop the best actor gong across the board of bookies, with odds ranging from 1/8 to 1/12 across various betting shops. Eddie Redmayne and Michael Fassbender, perceived as the closest two in the race, lurk some distance behind, both seeing odds of around 10/1 and 8/1.
DiCaprio’s The Revenant director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, is also tipped to pick up his second best director statuette in two years. The Mexican filmmaker’s odds sit around the 8/11 mark, way ahead of Tom McCarthy for Spotlight with 7/2 and Mad Max‘s George Miller with 5/1.
Spotlight is, however, the British betting community’s top pick for the best picture, significantly ahead of The Revenant, with odds of around 10/11 compared with 15/8.
Another sure bet, according to the stats, is Room‘s Brie Larson for best actress, way ahead with odds of 1/4. In second, Saoirse Ronan sees odds of 9/2, while local favorite Charlotte Rampling is way down the list around the 25/1 mark.
Elsewhere, bookies have gone for Rocky in the best supporting actor category, Sylvester Stallone coming ahead of Mark Rylance, and Rooney Mara several paces in front of Alicia Vikander and Kate Winslet for best supporting actress.
