UK Awards and Entertainment Betting
One of our famous gambling company’s motto used to be: ‘It matters more when there’s money on it’.
A good marketing line aimed at those who are regular sports watchers, but it can also be applied to novelty betting such as reality and awards shows as well as bets on the Royal family.
Over the last few years, bookmakers have experienced an increasing demand to back your favourite singer or actor in the Grammys, Oscars, Emmys and even the Eurovision and even investing a few pounds on your favourite talent show contestant.
Cultural Gambling
Cultural gambling, as it was once titled, is believed to have become the norm for gambling firms in the 1960s. Ladbrokes was an early adopter as they were the first firm to offer odds on the next leader of the Conservative Party and then the winner of the General Election.
The fact that a gambling firm was legitimising betting on non-sporting events saw journalists come to gambling firms for odds for any event. There were betting markets on the name of a new royal baby, a Christmas number one for the billboard charts, and the Oscar winners.
There are now odds offered on a variety of awards for TV, film and music, as well as for the winners of modern reality TV shows such as Britain Got Talent, Love Island and I’m a Celebrity Get Me out of Here!
Wider Betting Opportunities
Although nearly a year off, odds are already being offered for next year’s Oscars, with Jessica Chastain installed as 3/1 favourite to pick up either Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress.
Other popular markets include the next James Bond. With Daniel Craig expected to bow out from the role a number of actors have been mentioned as the potential successor: Tom Hardy (2/1), James Norton (2/1), Rege-Jean Page (5/1) and Sam Heugan (6/1).
Betting on TV shows also adds to the excitement of watching as people are punters keener than ever to back their favourite contestant in Love Island, The Voice, the Masked Singer and the Masked Dancer.
Soon there may also be the option of in-play betting on certain TV shows. A new generation of apps planned for your television aim to allow you to bet on an event as you watch it.
For TV shows such as the Voice, most bets offered are for the outright winner, or even picking the sex of the winner.
