American Idol a Clear Favorite with Online Bettors
Gamebookers adds £30,000 to purse and levels the playing field
Friday 28th April 2006
As 35 million viewers each week reach for their phones to vote on American Idol, online betting has become another hugely popular way to participate in the excitement of America’s favorite reality television show.
Online sportsbook Aces.com has followed the series since the start, and has noted large volumes of betting throughout the entire season. To keep up with the frenetic pace of the action, Aces.com’s odds maker, Jeremy Ryan, listens to the judges, checks the polls and monitors weekly voting trends when he updates his odds each Thursday.
“Every contestant had a chance to win,” said Ryan. “That’s why odds are different; some are just bigger favorites than others.”
While Chris Daughtry and Katherine McPhee have been the odds makers’ and voters’ favorites since Week 1, other early favorites have been eliminated, and some unlikely contestants have survived.
“The action has been pretty predictable, nothing out of the norm for Idol betting. We’re getting great action on all contestants,” added Ryan. “Idol is live, so it always gets great action. With other taped reality shows I generally see only one-way action. For example, for Survivor I had action mostly on 2 people and my guess is you'll see those two at the live finale.”
Current odds on who will be the next American Idol:
