Is There Joy and Giving Amongst the Novelty Betting Markets?
Author:
Roy Brindley
Christmas is the season of joy, love, and giving. What better time for bookmakers to offer odds about the outcome of things you would never normally consider? Primarily aimed at events and happenings during 2023, can you find a present amongst some of the numerous new novelty betting markets?
Will Guns N’ Roses headline a night at Glastonbury in 2023? Harry Styles might be a better bet. ?GettyImages
For example, have you given any thought to who will headline the Glastonbury Festival? It is 1/5 the Artic Monkeys will headline any night on the Pyramid Stage. Guns N’ Roses are 1/3. The American rockers are already confirmed to play in Hyde Park on June 30th. That is five days after Glastonbury closes.
Two headline spots remain on the Glastonbury roster as Elton John has been confirmed as the final act to perform on June 25th. Lewis Capaldi is even-money to claim one of them. Harry Styles can be backed at 2/1.
Styles would be the first X Factor contestant to headline at the Festival. With concerts already booked for Cardiff on June 20th and 21st and then in Belgium on June 24th, a window of opportunity is open for the 28-year-old to take to the Glastonbury stage on the 23rd.
Does the Sun Have Its 007 Story Straight?
Elsewhere, will 2023 be the year we are finally given a new James Bond actor? There have been over a dozen betting favorites since 15-year Bond veteran, Daniel Craig, announced he was ready to put his Walther PPK in its holster forever.
The latest 007 betting suggests Henry Cavill is the man for the role. The Tudors and Superman actor is 9/4 in Unibet’s betting list. Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been backed into 4/5 following a recent story in the Sun newspaper. It suggested the 32-year-old had already filmed the famous gun barrel teaser scenes for the next Bond film.
But the Avengers: Age of Ultron and Nocturnal Animals actor has drifted markedly in recent days. He can now be backed on 11/4. William Hill sportsbook offers the industry top prices of 8/1 and 10/1 about third and fourth favorites, Rege-Jean Page and James Norton.
25/1 Snowflakes Will Fall on the King
The best online betting sites have plenty of weather-related markets. ‘Will it snow during the Coronation of Charles III?’ one asks. Who knows? But, as that ceremony takes place on May 6th, the probability is almost certainly greater than the 25/1 odds offered by William Hill.
But the firm has dangled a carrot before value seekers by offering 8/1 about the UK’s temperature record of 40.3 degrees being bettered during 2023. The current mark – in a globally warming world – was set in Conningsby, Lincolnshire, on July 19th, 2022. However, that mark did smash the old record of 38.7 – set three years beforehand – by a considerable margin. It has led skeptics to question the validity of the new record.
Give That Man an Award!
There is less guesswork involved with betting on the Academy Awards. The 95th Oscars are scheduled to take place on March 12th, and the best online betting sites have markets available on all the main categories.
The Fabelmans – a semi-autobiographical movie based on director Steven Spielberg’s childhood growing up in post-war Arizona, from age seven to eighteen – is 5/6 to win the showpiece Best Picture award with most firms. And betting on the Best Director Academy Award sees Spielberg trading at 8/15 for his direction of the film.
The best movie/best director double has been achieved nine times in the past 15 years. One firm has formed a betting market on this achievement, and they make it a 7/4 shot to happen again in 2023.
Has Ladbrokes Made an Oscars Blunder?
It is a tempting price until a comprehensive surf of the best novelty betting sites reveals Ladbrokes online sportsbook has left its odds of 7/4 about The Fabelmans untouched in months. Other firms slashed its price a month after its Toronto International Film Festival premiere and a month before the movie’s general U.S. release on November 10th.
Based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics – and a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans – the Rotten Tomatoes website has seen 91 percent of 260 critics review the film positively. If the critics were betting men, they would surely agree – 7/4 is a great price and a potential winner for 2023.
