Every year, while the Nobel Prize Academy is getting ready to announce the candidates to the different prize categories, British bookies start opening the markets on which nominee will win which category. Novelty wagering as it is known, has been around for years, allowing people to bet on everything from crazy prop bets to televised awards to political events, but bettin on the Nobel Prize is not common because of the secrecy surrounding the event and the level of deep insight needed to create the lines.
The Swedish Nobel Academy receives dozens and dozens of nominees every year, has a system in place to guarantee absolute secrecy. They refuse to reveal the candidates until 50 years after the event and they keep every single bit of information secret under the highest of security measures. The selection process is also a highly guarded secret.
Ladbrokes, one of the largest sportsbooks in the world, has their own line-up of favourites for the Nobel Prize in Literature, with Haruki Murakami at the top of the list, followed closely by Joyce Carol Oates. It remains to be seen if Ladbrokes has made the right choices and placed the right odds for the upcoming Nobel Prize event.