bwin Oscar bets: Capture the buzz of the Academy Awards

by bwin

Vienna / Austria / 2010-03-02 (GlobalGamingPR) - Vienna – bwin.com is now taking 30 different online bets on the Academy Awards, which are set to be presented on 7 March. Bets on the standard categories, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading/Supporting Role and Best Directing, are supplemented by special bets, such as "Will one film win both the "Best Directing" and "Best Picture" Oscar?” Once again this year, live bets will crank up the suspense as bettors get to place their stakes while the Oscar ceremony is ongoing.

bwin, the world’s leading online gaming provider, has been offering bets in its entertainment line-up since 2006. In so doing, bwin has turned television into an action-packed experience by offering entertainment bets on popular TV shows (e.g. "Dancing Stars" and "Schlag den Raab"), the Eurovision Song Contest, Miss Universe, the Golden Globe, Emmy and Grammy Awards, and, naturally, the Oscar ceremony. bwin offers up to 30,000 bets at one and the same time. The betting line-up currently includes more than 90 sports in 22 languages.

Oscar favourites: Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges
Hot tips for winning the Oscar are "The Hurt Locker" (odds: 1.75), followed by “Avatar” (odds: 1.95) and “Inglourious Basterds” (odds: 15).
Still, the clear favourites of the bwin bookmakers are Christoph Waltz, nominated for the category Best Actor in a Supporting Role with odds of 1.05 and Monique for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (odds: 1.05), as well as “Up” for Best Animated Feature Film (odds: 1.05).
The favourite to win the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role is Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart" (odds: 1.12). George Clooney with “Up in the Air” has been demoted to second place with odds of 7.0.
Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”) has the best prospects to win in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category with odds of 1.60. Meryl Streep ("Julie and Julia") is hot on her heels with odds of 2.60. By comparison Helen Mirren’s performance in “The Last Station” has little chance of winning the trophy (odds: 51.00). Should she win the Oscar, bettors would receive 51 times their stake at the current odds.

Bullock also a favourite for the Golden Raspberry Award
Sandra Bullock also looks likely to win another, less highly coveted award – the Golden Raspberry Award. This award is traditionally presented on the night before the Oscar ceremony. With odds of 2.3 for her acting performance in “All about Steve”, Bullock is only just behind Megan Fox (“Transformers”) but ahead of Beyonce in “Obsessed” (odds: 3.75).

Bookmakers got it right three out of four times in 2009
In recent years, bwin bookmakers have usually been spot on in their estimates. In 2009, for example, the bookies had the right bet for six of the eight main categories – they successfully predicted the avalanche of Oscars that would go to “Slumdog Millionaire” – for Best Picture, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), and the corresponding Directing Oscar for Danny Boyle. Neither did Kate Winslet’s Oscar for Best Actress and Health Ledger’s for Best Supporting Actor surprise them – these had also been marked as favourites. Only Sean Penn as Best Actor and “Departure” as Best Foreign Language Film did not receive top odds – both had been given the second highest odds.

Favourite category
The favourite bet among bwin customers last year was that for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Here, too, bookie favourite Penelope Cruz (odds: 1.52) came in before Viola Davis (“Doubt”).

Odds subject to change without notice
www.bwin.com/entertainment

About bwin
The bwin Group has over 20 million registered customers in more than 25 core markets and operates a number of platforms offering sports betting, poker, casino games, fortune and skill games as well as audio and video streams of top sporting events such as the German football Bundesliga. The parent company bwin Interactive Entertainment AG ("bwin") is listed in the blue chip ATX index on the Vienna Stock Exchange and provides its subsidiaries and associated companies with various services such as software development, marketing, communication, human resources and finance. The operational business of the bwin Group is conducted by subsidiaries and associated companies based on licenses (e.g. in Germany, Italy or Gibraltar). Further information about the Company can be found on its investor relations website at www.bwin.org. (ID code BWIN, Reuters ID code BWIN.VI)

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Category: online gaming / Others