Oscars Betting Odds — How To Bet On The 2025 Academy Awards

by Ted Dahlstrom (TedD) Last Updated 2025-01-23T22:56:05

Grab your popcorn and get ready for some Oscars betting action! The 96th annual Academy Awards is happening Sunday, March 10th, and many states are allowing legal betting on the biggest awards ceremony in the entertainment industry. If you aren’t familiar with legal Oscar betting, or are out of the loop about who is nominated in the major categories, don’t worry. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 Oscars betting markets at U.S. sportsbooks.

Where Can You Bet On The Oscars?

Betting on the Oscars is a rather new concept for gamblers in the United States. It brings the excitement of sports betting to those who aren’t interested in professional sports. Unfortunately, not everyone across the country can get in on the fun. Though over 30 states have legalized sports betting in some form, only eight states will allow their local sportsbooks to take Oscars bets in 2024.

Of course, that’s an improvement from just a few years back. In 2019, only New Jersey allowed sportsbooks to offer betting markets for the Academy Awards. Indiana joined the niche betting scene in 2020, and Michigan followed suit in 2021. In 2022, Louisiana and Colorado joined the Oscars betting party, and Massachusetts became the sixth state to allow wagering on the Oscars when they legalized sports betting in 2023. Next, Arizona and Kansas decided to join the fun.

As time passes and sports betting becomes more of a norm in the U.S., it’s safe to say that more states will follow. Eventually, betting on the Academy Awards and Grammys could be as common as it is across the pond, where gambling on awards shows and political elections is just like betting on everyday sports. Opening up betting to a whole new crowd of people can only help increase overall revenues in these states.

States With Oscars Betting Odds

• Arizona
• Kansas
• New Jersey
• Indiana
• Michigan
• Colorado
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts

Outside of these states, you’ll have to stick to NFL Draft odds, NBA betting, MLB betting, and PGA golf betting. Hopefully, your state will join the Oscar festivities next year!

With online betting growing across the country and more people growing interested in casino and sportsbook apps, don’t be shocked if Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee try to get in on the Oscars betting action. After all, betting on pop culture and award shows like the Academy Awards is one way that sportsbooks like DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel can introduce their brands to an entirely new population and expand their reach.

Even if you aren’t in a state with legal Oscars wagering, you’ll still want to read these Oscars betting tips and odds if you’re participating in any free-to-play Academy Awards pools with friends and family.

In good news, the Kalshi promo code offers legal Oscar betting in all 50 states!

Academy Awards Categories & Odds 2024

There are 23 separate categories that will receive honors Sunday night. Sportsbooks used to only offer odds on the top categories, but now they offer wagering on just about all of them. Bettors will find that the hottest action is in the major categories, and all bets are straightforward futures wagers.

Sportsbooks use data to create odds for any event, including the Academy Awards. The data includes results from the awards shows held in the run-up to the Oscars. Academy Awards odds can swing based on how many awards movies and individual performances win at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choics Awards, SAG Awards, and more.

This page covers the biggest seven categories. All odds are courtesy of our friends at DraftKings. Other books may have slightly different prices, but the favorites are likely the same.

Odds Updated on March 5, 2024

Best Picture Odds

Best Picture is what Oscars bettors are most interested in, which is why the Academy saves it for last. That doesn’t mean the Best Picture announcement is without its share of drama, as everyone witnessed when La La Land was wrongly named Best Picture in 2017’s live telecast instead of Moonlight.

Oppenheimer enters as the HEAVY favorite to win the biggest award of the night, and the odds reflect that. A ten dollar bet on Oppenheimer to win will only net you $10.20. While director Christopher Nolan has garnered critical acclaim and a total of eight Oscar nominations, he’s never taken home Best Picture or Best Director. A win this year would signal not only the Academy’s appreciation for his biography of the nuclear scientist, but an overall approval of his entire body of work. Odds of the movie winning have always been good, but they shot up when the movie took home the Golden Globe for best drama.

Upsets in the biggest category of the night are memorable but rare. Remember that the favorite wins the Best Picture Oscar most years, so don’t blow your bankroll taking long shots in the biggest category. Maestro has long odds for a reason: no Netflix movie has ever won Best Picture, and since it’s Bradley Cooper’s first outing as a director, the Academy will have plenty more chances to award him down the line.

Best Director Odds

With 13 total nominations for Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan is heavily favored to win the Best Director award. Not only was the film a narrative success, the visual accomplishments of Nolan and Director of Photography Hoyte van Hoytema were a departure from the computer generated effects favored by many popular directors.

Of the remaining directors, Martin Scorsese and Yorgos Lanthimos are the most recognizable names for American audiences. In a strange way, they represent opposite approaches to filmmaking. Lanthimos, a longtime favorite of the Cannes jury, has worked with talents like Colin Farrell, Olivia Coleman, and Rachel Weitz to make unsettling, darkly funny films like The Lobster and Dogtooth. His films are considered part of the “Greek weird wave”, a post-modernist movement of unusual films that leave the viewer wondering about the unusual and sometimes absurd characters.

Scorsese, of course, is a dominant force in American cinema. His filmography includes some of the biggest blockbusters from the last five decades, though he has only one Best Picture and one Best Director trophy to show for his long career. Killers of the Flower Moon tells a vital part of Oklahoma history, with amazing performances from a stellar cast, but quality filmmaking hasn’t been enough for Scorsese to bring home the trophy in the past.

Nolan might be the closest to a sure thing, but betting on a sure thing doesn’t pay big. If you bet $100 on him to win, you’d get a whopping $2 profit. It might be better to save your money and take a chance in another category.

Best Actress Odds

Best Actress is one of the categories where a win for Oppenheimer isn’t a forgone conclusion. Both Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone have won awards for their performances, with Stone taking home the BAFTA and Critic’s Choice awards and Gladstone winning the SAG award. Gladstone’s odds have been steadily increasing throughout awards season, and the Academy is known to favor emotional performances over comedic ones. Add to that the fact that Gladstone would be the first Native American woman to ever win an Oscar, and it’s hard to see her coming up short in this category. Still, Stone took Best Actress not that long ago for a lighthearted performance in La La Land. She could pull it off, and betting $100 on her could net you a tidy $150 profit. This award is likely to keep everyone guessing until the envelope is opened.

Best Actor Odds

Golden Globe winner Paul Giamatti is the only one oddsmakers are keeping an eye on to upset Cillian Murphy. Murphy’s nuanced, understated performance in Oppenheimer is certainly one of the main reasons the film kept viewers interested for its full three-hour run time. But while Murphy is still the heavy favorite, Giamatti could still take the trophy home to keep with the Best Supporting Actor trophy he won back in 2006. His performance as a grumpy teacher at a 1970s boarding school in The Holdovers, alongside fellow Yale alum Da’Vine Joy Randolph, is being called the latest in a career of outstanding performances. If Giamatti does pull it off, it will likely be because Academy members are recognizing his body of work across nearly thirty years in the industry. A $100 bet on him would net you $500 in profit if Giamatti wins.

Best Supporting Actress Odds

Da’vine Joy Randolph has had a long career at just 37 years old, working on Broadway and in television before capturing acclaim and awards for her role in The Holdovers. She’s done an old-fashioned sweep of the awards thus far, winning a BAFTA, SAG Award, and a Golden Globe, among others.

However, Emily Blunt taking the Oscar home wouldn’t exactly be an upset, since she did win critical acclaim for her portrayal of Oppenheimer’s wife. Danielle Brooks from The Color Purple did a great job bringing Sofia to life in her own way, but it’s hard to step out of the shadow of Oprah Winfrey’s performance in the original. The always amazing Jodie Foster is said to be incredible in her portrayal of Diana Nyad, but she’s also nominated for a Netflix movie no one has seen.

Again, in this category there’s little suspense and little profit to be made. You should pick Da’Vine Joy Randolph if you’re competing with friends or family to see who predicts the most winners. But since she’s so likely to win, betting $100 on her will only get you a profit of $2.85.

Best Supporting Actor Odds

Hollywood loves a good redemption story, and no one has a better one than Robert Downey Junior. Moviegoers of a certain age will remember that it wasn’t that long ago that RDJ seemed determined to lean into his addiction and ruin his career. In the two decades since finding sobriety, he’s also found commercial success and been nominated twice for Oscars. This year is most likely his time to take one home. Betting on any of the other nominees isn’t likely to result in a win, and a $100 bet on RDJ will only win you $2.85.

Best Original Song Odds

Not only was What Was I Made For? a chart topping success, it was also penned, performed and produced by Oscar winners Billie Eilish and Finneas. At just 22, Eilish is already the only person born in the 21st century to win an Academy Award. The ballad from the Barbie soundtrack captures many of the quintessential questions about identity and feminism brought up through the movie.

While I’m Just Ken has the next best odds, the song’s nomination seems to be more of a ploy to get Ryan Gosling to sing at the ceremony than a true possiblity to win. There are some rumblings that some Academy members think Eilish is too young to be a two time Oscar winner, which might lead them to vote for I’m Just Ken instead. Mark Ronson, frequent Bruno Mars collaborator and writer of I’m Just Ken, previously won Best Song for Shallow from A Star is Born. He also served as executive producer of the Barbie album, and a win for him could be a celebration of the entire work. While it’s still a long shot, if you bet $100 on I’m Just Ken and win, you’d get a $450 profit.

2024 Academy Awards – March 10 at 7 pm ET on ABC: Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel

Now that you know the odds, take your seats and lock in your bets, movie lovers! The show starts soon — 7 pm ET on Sunday, March 10.

If Oscars betting isn’t legal in your state, check to see if you can sign up for a DFS site like Underdog and apply the Underdog promo code at signup.