Whether it was the quality of movies, or with the recessionary times more people stayed home to watch, or the fact Marissa Tomei was back on the red carpet (she's a draw unto herself)….but online sportsbooks saw a big increase in Oscar betting volume over Hollywood's big night out last year.
Hey, it also could have had something to do with last year's big nominees being psycho/sociopath character driven pieces (No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood), but whatever the reason, SPORTSBETTING.COM reported a significant jump in interest from bettors getting action down on the Oscar offerings.
And it looks like the betting public had a profitable evening for Oscar betting results.
As expected, the real action showed up on the major categories, and as stated, the betting public scored an almost perfect night.
By the time the Slumdog Millionaire cast and crew congregated on stage to celebrate winning the movie of the year, there had been a parade of odds on favorites hitting the stage.
- The biggest favorite of the night, and dare we say, the only "Lock" of the night was given in the Best Supporting Actor category. The late Heath Ledger won this award, posthumously, for his brilliant interpretation of the Joker. Virtually 100% of the action in this category was on Ledger.
-Kate Winslet was a small favorite, but she finally added an Oscar to her trophy case, taking this year's Best Actress for her role in The Reader. Bettors lined up behind her with 50% of all the action in this category at SPORTSBETTING.COM getting it right with Winslet.
-When Sean Penn tipped his hat to "Commie, Homo loving sons of guns," after winning the Best Actor award for his performance in Milk, it was the only category that bettors didn't clearly win. The comeback player of the decade, Mickey Rourke, had bettors backing his "feel-good" story, as both he and Penn were running about 50-50 in terms of action in this one.
-Penélope Cruz took home Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and also was a winner for the bettors.
-Best Director went to Danny Boyle who directed the night's big winner, Slumdog Millionaire. Boyle's win was predicted by 70% of the bettors who risked a few dollars in this category.
For prop bettors here are some tidbits that will interest you.
Sean Penn thanked his Best Friend in his acceptance speech, which doesn't count as God, Family, or the Academy but Something Else and paid out at -110 and seeing as he didn't cry, but was rather jovial, "No" bettors saw little profit at -400.
Kate Winslet "reigned in the emotions" as the independent.co.uk reported, meaning she didn't cry, meaning people who bet on "No" in the "Will the Best Actress Cry" prop cashed in at +170…but she came damn close!
Winslet and Penn both went over 45 seconds in their speeches, meaning "Yes" bettors profited at -220 and -240 respectively.
Bettors won most of their bets, Penelope Cruz won and gave us a little more than a minute of more Penelope Cruz fantasy material and Hollywood won on what was an overall 'thumbs up" Academy Awards night.
You can check out online sportsbooks right now for a list of other Entertainment wagers ranging from American Idol Season whatever, Survivor: Tocantins and that dancing show….if you think a female will win Donald Trump's the next Celebrity Apprentice, then surf over to SPORTSBETTING.COM and get your bets in.
The Donald is back with the second go-around of Celebrity Apprentice and the odds for the sex of the winner are -130 for a female and -110 for male.
Trump has assembled a motley crew of celebs including Dennis Rodman (+800), Melissa Rivers (+300) and her mother Joan (+500).
Andrew Dice Clay, T-Boz Watkins, Khloe Kardashian, Claudia Jordan and Playboy bunny Brande Roderick are all longshots at +1500 while poker player Annie Duke is the odds-on at +200.
Enjoy your week
Bovada Sportsbook •
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