The 81st Oscars - We have your Picks

Sometimes sportsbook betting fans look at making bets on the Oscars as wasting time. After all, doesn’t everybody know who’s going to win the Oscar based on the odds?

Don’t favorites always take home the golden statue? Not always. How many times was director Martin Scorsese nominated and failed to win as the favorite? How many times has an unknown actor taken home the statue as an underdog?

Let’s take a look at the acting categories in this year’s Oscar race!

BetUS Online Sportsbook Acting Categories for the Oscars

Best Supporting Actress: The nominees are Penelope Cruz -140, Viola Davis +300, Marisa Tomei +350, Taraji P Henson +900, Amy Adams +1100. The logical online bet is Cruz who is a very popular actress and has been nominated before but she didn’t star in the movie Vickey Cristina Barcelona and how many people actually saw it? Amy Adams was good in Doubt but not great and Tomei has won this award before. This is usually an upset category. I’m going with an upsetter.

Pick: Taraji P Henson at +900 for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger is a huge favorite for The Dark Knight at -2500. I’m not sure if he’s beatable in this category because a lot of Academy voters agree that he probably should have won for Brokeback Mountain. Too bad he’s dead which means they give it to him for The Dark Knight or he doesn’t get one. I still believe that Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road has an outside shot at +1600. Josh Brolin has a nice shot at +1600 as well for Milk but Ledger shouldn’t lose this. Robert Downey Jr. would be my vote if I had one for Tropic Thunder at +3000. Philip Seymour Hoffman has no chance at +1400 for Doubt since he’s won an award already.

Pick: Heath Ledger at -2500 for The Dark Knight

Best Actress: If I had a vote, I would give it to Meryl Streep every year. She was fantastic, brilliant, and phenomenal in Doubt and the odds of +350 are downright awesome. But she’s won a few of these already. Kate Winslet is liked by everybody on the planet and there’s no doubting that she’s a great actress. She’s probably due at -125 for her brilliant work in The Reader. It’s too early for Anne Hathaway to take one of these home at the online odds of +150 for Rachel Getting Married. Angelina Jolie is going off at +1000 in The Changeling. The Academy won’t reward her for being crazy again. Melissa Leo at +1000…who is she again?

Pick: Kate Winslet at -125 for The Reader

Best Actor: Richard Jenkins was really, really good in The Reader. At the odds of +1200 I’m tempted to make a bet on him. Brad Pitt secured his second nomination for The Curios Case of Benjamin Button but I don’t think he has much of a shot at +1000. Sean Penn is always worthy and he was especially good in Milk. The +300 odds are nice as well. Mickey Rourke is the favorite for The Wrestler at -150 but I’m going to take a long shot again. This time it’s Frank Langella, the old pro, who was as brilliant as they get playing Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon. That’s the guy I’m going with at +600.

Pick: Frank Langella at +600 for Frost/Nixon

Good Luck!