Who's Odds On to Win an Oscar?

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards is not due to take place until Sunday 7th March but already they are generating newspaper headlines, water cooler discussions and betting action.

Best Picture and Best Director
Two of the most coveted awards, Best Picture and Best Director, are this year being dominated by two giant films; James Cameron's 3D epic, ‘Avatar' and Kathryn Bigelow's blockbuster, ‘The Hurt Locker'. To heat things up even more, the directors used to be an item but all personal feelings will be out the window on Oscar night, with both vying for golden statues and industry prestige.

This year's race to glory is a tight one and the bookies are split between the two; even biggies like William Hill and Ladbrokes were disagreeing about their placement for Best Film last week. However, at the time of writing, both are now in agreement about Avatar having the edge and are offering odds of 8/13 (Ladbrokes) and 1/2 (William Hill).

Both major sports betting operators were also favoring the opposite movie for Best Director but the odds keep changing and both now have Kathryn Bigelow planning her acceptance speech. Ladbrokes are offering odds of 4/7 and William Hill has her at 8/15.

Wager on a Winner
Even those with busy lifestyles can get in on the betting action by taking advantage of William Hill's flexible betting options.  These give you four different ways to have a flutter; betting shop, online site, mobile betting or via the telephone. You can also keep up to date on the night with their SMS update service.

Anyone's Game
We can expect much discussion, speculation and changing odds right up until Oscar night.  The winners though, are famously hard to call, and with Quentin Tarantino's ‘Inglourious Basterds' and James Reitman's ‘Up in the Air' both jostling for third and fourth place in both categories, you  never quite know who will be pulled out of that much coveted golden envelop on the night.