The next Academy Awards show takes place in April of 2021, and that means that Oscars betting is on the mind of many a sports gambler. Of course, if you’re on the hunt for the best Oscars bets, your options are limited through brick-and-mortar channels. For most gamblers, Academy Awards betting is only going to be available over the Internet at offshore sportsbooks that offer entertainment betting lines.

Understand the Categories. One of the first places where people get tripped up betting the Oscars is.

Fortunately, it’s easy to bet on the Oscars, and every reputable book offers plenty of action on the star-studded gala. That said, before you put any money on your pick for Best Picture and all the other big movie awards, you’ll want to make sure you’re placing your wagers with the most trustworthy legal online betting sites possible. Read on to find out how!

• Best Oscars Bets to Make With more than 20 Oscars awards up for grabs, there's plenty of wagering options for bettors to make. Generally, the top four awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor.
• Oscars betting is simply where you place a bet on your prediction for the winner of an award category. So, you will want to be sure you are aware of all of the Oscars favorites before you put your.

Is It Legal To Bet On The Oscars?

If you live in the US, you can legally bet on the Academy Awards in one of two ways. For those residing in New Jersey, that state has approved Oscars betting as part of the regulated sportsbook offerings there. If you live anywhere else in the country, however, you must bet on the show by using an offshore sports betting site.

Note: Residents of Connecticut and Washington are precluded from all forms of gambling over the Internet. However, these states’ laws appear to be entirely unenforced, so you can proceed at your own discretion. We nevertheless advise that you follow all local gambling laws in your area.

Best USA Sportsbook For Betting On The 2021 Academy Awards

Bovada, operating under the license of the international Bodog brand, is the most popular online sportsbook in America, and they’ve been offering Academy Awards betting odds for years. As soon as the annual list of Oscar nominees is released, Bovada has live odds on the event, usually with lines for each category. Mix in some Academy Award props, and you’ve got dozens of ways to make some money off Hollywood for a change!

Sign up at Bovada now, and you’re eligible for a $250 Sports Welcome Bonus that you can put towards your Oscar betting. Deposit with Bitcoin, and you can triple that to $750 (which, incidentally, is how much the most expensive Oscars tickets cost).

Pros

• The most Academy Awards odds anywhere
• Includes Oscars predictions, nominee odds, and props
• Bitcoin + Bitcoin Cash accepted
• Valuable bonuses + low rollovers
• Guaranteed payouts
• 24/7 customer service
• Full sportsbook, casino, poker room, and racebook

Cons

• US residents of DE, MD, NJ, NV not accepted
• Limited banking options compared to some other sites
• Entertainment odds have lower limits than sports betting odds

How To Bet On The Oscars

Academy Awards Betting Games

Wagering on the Oscars is as simple as betting on any other sport. As long as you use a reputable offshore site that offers entertainment betting, you’ll have plenty of Oscars odds and lines to choose from. You’ll even have a selection of entertainment prop bets available. Signing up with any of our recommended providers is fast and free, so you can turn the red carpet green in no time flat!

Assembling your Academy Awards betting sheet works the same way as betting on NFL games or betting on the Razzies: Just select the wager you wish to make, enter a dollar amount, and submit your ticket. You can place individual wagers or piece together parlays for even bigger payouts, making your Hollywood dreams come true!

Academy Awards 2021 Nominations

• Academy Award For Best Picture - TBA
• Academy Award For Best Director - TBA
• Academy Award For Best Cinematography - TBA
• Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay - TBA
• Academy Award For Best Adapted Screenplay - TBA
• Academy Award For Best Actor - TBA
• Academy Award For Best Actress - TBA
• Academy Award For Best Supporting Actor - TBA
• Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress – TBA

In addition to the main category odds (which will be posted here as soon as the Oscar nominations are formally released), most legal online sports betting sites already have some Oscars predictions lines posted. The following wagers are on whether or not certain popular actors will make the cut:

2020 Academy Awards Results

The 2020 Oscars are a good reference point for the 2021 odds, as the 91^st Academy Awards had some heavy favorites that won – and others that didn’t. Below are the Oscars winners from the main categories last year, showing you how on-the-ball the betting public usually is, as well as how larger social narratives might drive an underdog to victory.

The following historical odds are from Bovada’s coverage of last year’s Oscars, with the winners in bold. In these main categories, you can see that the Oscar winners came from the top two choices each time. Take note of this and apply it to your betting strategy this season!

Best Picture

• Roma -280
• Green Book +300
• Bohemian Rhapsody +1800
• The Favourite +1800
• Black Panther +2500
• BlacKkKlansman +2800
• A Star Is Born +3300
• Vice +6600

Best Director

• Alfonso Cuaron (Roma) -2000
• Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman) +650
• Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War) +2500
• Adam McKay (Vice) +3300
• Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) +3300

Best Cinematography

• Roma -2000
• Cold War +900
• The Favourite +1500
• A Star is Born +1500
• Never Look Away +4000

Best Original Screenplay

• The Favourite -200
• Green Book +200
• Roma +750
• First Reformed +1400
• Vice +4000

Best Adapted Screenplay

• BlacKkKlansman -275
• Can You Ever Forgive Me? +275
• If Beale Street Could Talk +600
• A Star is Born +2000
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs +5000

Best Actor

• Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) -550
• Christian Bale (Vice) +275
• Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) +2000
• Viggo Mortensen (Green Book) +3300
• Willem Dafoe (At Eternity's Gate) +6600

Best Actress

• Glenn Close (The Wife) -650
• Olivia Colman (The Favourite) +325
• Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) +1500
• Yalitza Aparicio (Roma) +4000
• Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) +5000

Best Supporting Actor

• Mahershela Ali (Green Book) -1400
• Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) +700
• Sam Elliott (A Star is Born) +900
• Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman) +3300
• Sam Rockwell (Vice) +5000

Best Supporting Actress

• Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) -300
• Amy Adams (Vice) +350
• Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) +700
• Marina de Tavira (Roma) +1500
• Emma Stone (The Favourite) +2200

Who votes for the Oscars?

There is only one entity that who votes for Oscar winners, and that’s the Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences, or AMPAS. Unless you’re a member of the Academy, you don’t get to vote on these awards, which means there’s no way to help boost your Oscars bets. Like Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman, you’ll be going into this one blind!

About The Oscars - When Are The Academy Awards?

If you’re looking for how to watch the Academy Awards, you can catch the big show live on ABC in February 2020. However, if you don’t have traditional television, you may need to know how to stream the Oscars. Regardless, we’ve got all the applicable broadcast info here:

• Date: Sunday, April 25, 2021
• Time: 6:30 p.m. (pre-show), 8:00 p.m. (main show)
• Location: Los Angeles, CA
• Venue: Dolby Theatre
• Broadcast: ABC
• Streaming: ABC.com, ABC iPhone/Android app, ABC YouTube TV/Sling TV/Playstation Vue channels

Legal Oscars Betting FAQs

Who is hosting the Academy Awards this year?

Those looking for who is hosting the Oscars in 2021 will be disappointed to learn that – like last year – there is no Academy Awards host on hand. This is likely a move by the show producers to minimize any kind of social media scandal that may result from the chosen host’s past comedy or performance routines.

Should I take a shallow Oscar performance seriously when betting?

Picking Oscar winners is tough. In sports betting, you generally have a good statistical framework when handicapping players and teams. However, there are only a few real strategies for picking the folks who are going to receive Oscar trophies. While some bettors think the industry only awards those who turn in grand performances, be careful: Shallow performances are often the order of the day.

Remember, Oscars betting is like political betting, and Hollywood is extremely political in and of itself. If a role meshes with the social narratives of the day, it’s worth betting on. Talent and skill are often secondary to Hollywood’s mission to “drive culture.”

What should I look for when predicting the best Academy Award movies?

In addition to the above, there are other tips to take into consideration if you want to pick the winners successfully. The Oscars is rarely about any kind of empirical “best,” instead defaulting to politics and popularity. A great movie might not even get a nomination, after all, and Oscar-worthy performances are often ignored.

Empirically, there are two workable strategies if you want to pad your payroll. The first is to pick one of the two front-runners in any given category (as exemplified by last year’s award winners above). The second is to pick the underdog that most needs a critical shot in the arm to boost its retail and streaming sales. If a big earner and small earner are getting equal Oscar buzz, go with the smaller earner.

Can I bet on the Academy Awards in Vegas?

You cannot currently bet on the Oscars in Las Vegas, as only New Jersey allows entertainment betting at its state-regulated sportsbooks. While you will see things purporting to be Vegas odds on the Oscars at many online outlets, these are all hypothetical, and they’re almost always referencing the lines at offshore sportsbooks.

How can I get tickets to the Oscars?

Oscar tickets prices aren’t totally outrageous ($150-$750), but availability is a problem. In short, unless you’re “in Hollywood,” you can’t get a ticket to the event.

Tickets to the Academy Awards are reserved for invited celebrities, performers, presenters, nominees, and their guests. If you aren’t on the short list, you’ll have to watch from home.

How many people watch the Oscars?

The Oscars are popular, as is wagering on them. However, the market is considerably smaller for the Academy Awards than for, say, Super Bowl betting, since major sporting events still dwarf the Hollywood award show.

Just as a point of comparison, the NFL’s championship game attracts roughly 100 million viewers each year, while the Oscars pull in only 25-30 million viewers annually. Still, that’s pretty good, especially considering that around 40% of US adults bet on sports and entertainment at least semi-regularly.

What was the biggest Oscar winner?

This is tough to quantify, from either a critical perspective or betting perspective. From a critical standpoint, Bob Fosse winning Best Director for Cabaret over Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather in 1973 is an easy pick.

However, a movie about the ultimate underdog winning Best Picture as a major underdog has to rank pretty highly in an industry that values metaphor, simile, irony, and poetic justice. So for our money, 1977’s Rocky is the biggest Oscar winner ever.

For stat heads, of course, that lofty mantle probably belongs to Gone with the Wind (1939), which is the highest-grossing Best Picture winner of all time after earning an adjusted $1.8 billion since its release.

Why doesn’t my local sportsbook have Academy Awards betting?

Oscars betting odds are popular, and in most other countries with legal sports wagering, you can access lines on Hollywood’s biggest evening with ease or even find odds for the BAFTA awards. However, in the US, even as more legal sports betting venues crop up around the country, you can’t currently wager on the Oscars anywhere but in New Jersey.

This is largely due to the precedent set by the Nevada Gaming Control Board when Las Vegas was the only game in town, and while individual sports betting states haven’t outlawed entertainment betting, they tend not to offer reality TV and Oscars odds. This is likely to change in the future as more states adopt NJ’s online gambling model.

Casino. The Hustler. The Sting. What do these movies have in common?

For starters, they’re all about gambling. They were also each recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as representing the very best in film, garnering nominations if not several outright wins.

Despite Hollywood’s love affair with chance, local legislatures (and irony) have largely prevented American movie fans from betting on the Oscars. When the nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards are announced on Monday, March 15th, gaming enthusiasts/film buffs around the country will be chomping at the bit to turn their preferences into payouts. Only a relative handful will be able to do so.

Where Can You Bet on the Oscars?

To date, New Jersey and Indiana are the only two states where you can put odds on the Oscars, via sportsbooks. With the rising popularity and growing adoption of online gambling nationwide, though, it may not be long before “Supporting Actor” ties “Super Bowl” for the hottest wager in town.

Whether you’re a Hoosier or a resident of the Garden State, there is no shortage of sportsbooks to choose from. Check out our guides to the best sportsbook apps in each state, from brand-name blockbusters to the hip little indies that have everyone buzzing.

Which Films Might Be The Favorites At Popular Sportsbooks?

Whether you’re laying down cash at a sportsbook or just wagering with friends, 2021 is sure to be one of the most hotly contested Oscar races in years. There don’t appear to be any hard-line divisions between movies like there were in the bad old days of Pulp Fiction versus Forrest Gump, Boyhood versus Birdman, or Green Book versus Anything Else.

If the Golden Globe nominations are any indication (and they usually are), this year will see an escalation of the debate over the legitimacy of streaming-service films versus traditional theatrical releases. When the global pandemic knocked most movie theatres (and, by extension, big-screen movies themselves) out of commission last year, once emerging forces like Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix began pushing hard for their On Demand offerings to snag as much Oscar gold as possible.

Some of the most talked-about films and performances still belong to traditional studios. Searchlight Pictures’ recession-road trip drama Nomadland topped several “Best of 2020” lists, with high praise for director Chloé Zhao and star Frances McDormand.

Academy Awards Betting Odds

Likewise, Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman is shaping up to be a description of the actress-turned-writer/director’s Best Picture and Best Director prospects. The Focus Features thriller is getting a lot of attention for its unconventional take on the revenge picture, with star Carey Mulligan delivering one of the most talked-about performances of last year.

Academy Awards Betting

On the flip side, there are too many streaming contenders to describe in detail here. Just look up the credits for Amazon’s One Night In Miami and Sound of Metal; Netflix’s Mank, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; A24/Apple’s On the Rocks; or even Palm Springs from Neon/Hulu, and you’ll trip over possible nominees (and likely surefire winners) in multiple categories.

As the statue wars rage between studios like never before, it’s audiences who will emerge the clear winner in 2021. Unlike years past, movie lovers won’t have to hit up the local art theatre (or any theatre) to prepare for the live April 25th broadcast. In many cases, the best of the best are only a rental or a “Watch Now” away.

Hopefully betting on these films will be just as easy and, as they say in the trailers, coming soon.