Hit & Run: Bet on any good books lately?
by John Walsh
Thursday, 1 October 2009 - Funny story in The Independent
Thursday, 1 October 2009 - Funny story in The Independent
Bookies stand by for shock Booker result," yelled a headline this week. Eyebrows were raised in August about the rush of bets that were placed on Hilary Mantel's Tudor bodice-ripper, Wolf Hall, when the Booker longlist was revealed. One turf accountant stopped taking bets after Mantel reached 2/1. Now, as Tuesday's prize dinner approaches, the judges are being asked to start early – as if anticipating trouble, heavy going, unspecified horse-trading.
How much betting actually goes on at Booker time? I went to investigate. On the MyBetting website ("the UK bookmaker directory,") I read that "Booker Prize 2009... Ian McEwan with Saturday is currently the hottest ever favourite to win." Saturday was published in 2005. OLBG Sports (4/5 on Wolf Hall, 9/2 on Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger) offers helpful, if prosaic, tips to busy punters unfamiliar with the year's fictional outlet. Waters' book, they say, "looks the main danger to the favourite, this book about social observations could easily land the Booker Prize."
I tried Paddy Power, where the Booker Prize heads the list of "Novelty Bets," ahead of "How Many Will Attend Pope's Mass?" and "What Will Colin Farrell's Baby Be Called?" (you can get 6/1 on Eamon if you're quick.) They had Mantel to win at 4/5.
I tried William Hill online. It was hard to locate any mention of the Booker at all, amid the contact sports, from American Football to Virtual Cricket. But finally I found a teensy list offering the top three at: Mantel 4/5, Waters 4/1, Coetzee 6/1.
Desperate for human contact, I went to my High Street Ladbrokes, expecting the place to pullulate with Booker punters shouting, "A monkey on Coetzee!" or "Gimme a pony on The Little Stranger, the masterpiece of social observations!" It was weirdly quiet, apart from some beepings from the virtual poker-players.
I asked the woman behind the glass for current odds on the Booker Shortlist. "Is that horses, dear?" she asked. Madam, I replied coldly, it is the nation's leading award for fictional excellence. Horses indeed.
"You'd better see Darren," she said. Darren scanned a list, checked a ledger, searched online and drew a blank in all three. "Book of Prize, is that what you're looking for?" No no, I said, Booker, the novel award. "Once again," I said, "it has pitched the British reading community into a deranged frenzy of ill-advised gambling."
"Never heard of it," said Darren.
"But it's been going for over 20 years," I wailed.
"So have I," said Darren. Eventually he found the shortlist, and gave me 5/1 on Summertime. It'll wipe that smirk off his face when I collect £55 off him on Wednesday.
Desperate for human contact, I went to my High Street Ladbrokes, expecting the place to pullulate with Booker punters shouting, "A monkey on Coetzee!" or "Gimme a pony on The Little Stranger, the masterpiece of social observations!" It was weirdly quiet, apart from some beepings from the virtual poker-players.
I asked the woman behind the glass for current odds on the Booker Shortlist. "Is that horses, dear?" she asked. Madam, I replied coldly, it is the nation's leading award for fictional excellence. Horses indeed.
"You'd better see Darren," she said. Darren scanned a list, checked a ledger, searched online and drew a blank in all three. "Book of Prize, is that what you're looking for?" No no, I said, Booker, the novel award. "Once again," I said, "it has pitched the British reading community into a deranged frenzy of ill-advised gambling."
"Never heard of it," said Darren.
"But it's been going for over 20 years," I wailed.
"So have I," said Darren. Eventually he found the shortlist, and gave me 5/1 on Summertime. It'll wipe that smirk off his face when I collect £55 off him on Wednesday.
1 comment:
Maybe if he'd looked under 'Man Booker'?
Anyway you placed your bet. I also bet on Summertime and got 6/1 about a month ago. A brown drinking voucher on Summertime, as we occasionally say up here.
My feeling was based not on the book - I havent read it yet - but on the idea that judges looking to make a mark might be tempted with the very first Booker hat-trick for Coetzee. I hope none of them read this, and that they are all in literary purdah.
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