Punters Reinvesting Mirren Winnings On O'Toole

Bookmakers William Hill's decision to payout on Helen Mirren winning the Best Actress Oscar is starting to pay dividends with the majority of customers reinvesting in the other markets with William Hill reporting a 50% increase in Oscar turnover since Wednesday.

Peter O'Toole has been very popular at 10/3 and is the second favourite to win the Best Actor Award behind Forest Whitaker who can be backed at 1/5.

The Best Film Oscar looks by far the most competitive market with the top three films in the betting coming in for support.

William Hill rate The Departed as their Even money favourite and offer 9/4 Little Miss Sunshine, and 7/2 Babel.

"Helen must be a certainty for the Oscar and we did not want any more money on her so were happy to payout early - the first time we have done so in twenty years of Oscar betting. It will be interesting to see if people come piling in for Forest Whitaker who many critics feel is equally as certain to win the Best Actor award as Helen is to win the Best Actress," said William Hill's spokesman Rupert Adams.

Best Film Betting Odds: 1/1 The Departed, 9/4 Little Miss Sunshine, 7/2 Babel, 10/1 Letters From Iwo Jima, 14/1 The Queen

Best Actor Betting Odds: 1/5 Forest Whitaker, 10/3 Peter O'Toole, 16/1 Leonardo Di Caprio, 33/1 Ryan Gosling, 33/1 Will Smith

Best Director Betting Odds: 2/9 Martin Scorsese, 7/1 Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 8/1 Paul Greengrass, 10/1 Clint Eastwood, 20/1 Stephen Frears