Oscars Betting 2024: Academy Awards Preview, Best Odds and Tips

There was already widespread anticipation for it, but now the nominations have been revealed for the 96th Academy Awards, the excitement around the Oscars is prevalent.

As a result, betting sites are now examining who the most likely candidates are for the big prizes at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 10.

Cillian Murphy Tipped For Best Actor Glory

At last year’s Oscars, Colin Farrell lost out for his performance in The Banshees of Inisherin to The Whale star Brendan Fraser. 

Fast forward to January 2024 and his fellow Irishman Cillian Murphy (who is just five days older than Farrell) is the current favourite to claim Best Actor for his eponymous role in Oppenheimer.

A first-time Oscar nominee, Murphy is currently 1/16 with BetVictor to win Best Actor in early March, while Unibet and BetMGM have him at the even shorter odds of 1/20.

His main challenger at the moment appears to be US actor Paul Giamatti (7/1), who has made the cut as a potential Best Actor winner for his part as cranky history teacher Paul Hunham in The Holdovers.

Given he has also been included in the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay categories this year, Bradley Cooper has now secured an astonishing 12 Oscar nominations. 

It seems a distinct possibility that if he does eventually win an Academy Award, that it will be for something other than acting.

Yet his performance as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro (a film that he also directed), has earned him a fifth nomination for his work in front of the camera and it would be foolish to rule him out of contention for Best Actor. 

At odds of 17/1 on specials betting sites, Cooper could be a decent outside bet.

Like Murphy and Cooper, Colman Domingo has nabbed a Best Actor nomination for playing a real-life figure - in his case the civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in Rustin.

Despite having many acting credits spread across film, TV and the stage, Domingo isn’t necessarily regarded as a household name in Hollywood. 

The shortest odds to be found on him pulling off a surprise win are 50/1, but the most common value is currently 100/1 across a variety of betting apps.

A more familiar face thanks to his appearances in a number of high-profile films (including three of Daniel Craig’s James Bond films), Jeffrey Wright is also nominated in the Best Actor category for playing Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison in American Fiction. 

However, with odds of 100/1 available, it seems unlikely that he will finish on top of the pile.

Stone And Gladstone Neck-And-Neck For Best Actress Gong

Though she already had a number of credits to her name, Lily Gladstone has become a breakout star as a result of her performance as Mollie Kyle in Martin Scorsese’s crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon. 

She is rated at 1/2 with some bookmakers to come away with an Oscar in this category, though 10Bet has gone slightly longer at 8/15.

When it comes to Best Actress, there are two nominees who are leading the field quite comfortably at the moment.

A previous winner in this category for La La Land in 2017, Emma Stone has once again been shortlisted for playing Bella Baxter in the much-discussed Poor Things. 

This is her second collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos after The Favourite - for which she secured an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress - and her chances of claiming a second Best Actress Academy Award are rated at 13/8.

The other first-time nominee for Best Actress, Germany’s Sandra Huller is up for the French legal thriller Anatomy of a Fall. 

Whereas the shortest odds on her beating the likes of Stone and Gladstone to this prize are 10/1, others have her at 25/1.

Nominated in this category twice before for An Education and Promising Young Woman, English star Carey Mulligan has made the cut this year for her portrayal of Felicia Montealegre (real-life wife of Leonard Bernstein) in Maestro. 

Mulligan is on offer at 66/1 with Bet365 and is seen as an outside possibility for this particular award.

Nominated on four earlier occasions for an Oscar, Annette Bening has been shortlisted once again for her title role in Nyad. 

Yet with odds on her ranging from 33/1 to 50/1, it seems unlikely that she will go a step further this year.

Nolan And Oppenheimer Expected To Triumph

Despite the high calibre of filmmakers that have been nominated, Christopher Nolan is the clearest of favourites to take away the Best Director Oscar for Oppenheimer.

Nominated for three Academy Awards this year, Nolan is currently available at the virtually unbackable odds of 1/50 with BetUK.

To give a sense of how hotly Nolan is being backed, some bookmakers are offering odds of 16/1 on Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things), as well as 33/1 on Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) and Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall). 

Jonathan Glazer is seen as an even more unlikely contender with odds of 40/1 available on him for Best Director.

It is a similar case in the Best Picture category with Oppenheimer - which focuses on real-life theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the Manhattan Project - as short as 1/20 to secure what is seen as the main prize on the night.

Poor Things and The Holdovers are in front of the chasing pack with odds of 25/1 with Bet365, while Anatomy of a Fall and Killers of the Flower Moon are further adrift at 50/1 and 100/1 with Unibet. 

Barbie is available at a huge 66/1, but the remainder of the field - American Fiction, The Zone of Interest, Past Lives and Maestro - are only available at odds of 40/1 or longer.

Meanwhile, the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories also have clear favourites at this current impasse.

Downey Jr And Randolph Leading Race For Supporting Awards

Even allowing for the fact that he is in competition with Ryan Gosling, two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro, Sterling K. Brown and his former Avengers cast mate Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr is 1/20 with a couple of different bookmakers to win Best Supporting Actor for his excellent work as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer.

Bucking the trend of Oppenheimer dominating each category that it’s nominated in, DaVine Randolph is the 1/33 favourite for Best Supporting Actress for her outstanding work in The Holdovers. 

Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple) and Emily Blunt are 20/1 hopefuls, whereas America Ferrera and Jodie Foster (in spite of her two previous Best Actress wins) are seen as rank outsiders for their roles in Barbie and Nyad respectively.

How To Bet on The Oscars

Each year, a number of novice punters are left wondering can you bet on the Oscars and the answer is 'yes'. However, it may depend on your location.

If you’re in the United Kingdom you can simply check out our list of new betting sites and select the bookmaker that offers most appeal to you.

In most cases you’ll need to deposit funds to your new account and verify your age, but so long as you don’t leave things to the last minute you should have plenty of time to place a bet on the Oscars, which take place on March 10.