Yorgos Lanthimos, who directed best picture nominee "The Favourite," opened as a 50-1 long shot before a late flurry of money on him Sunday moved his odds to 6-1.
Betting on the Academy Awards opened to rave reviews at New Jersey sportsbooks and the integrity of the Oscars was preserved despite some unusual wagering activity.
Before the biographical drama "Green Book" pulled off an upset win for best picture, there was no shortage of drama surrounding the betting on best director.
As rumors spread on social media a few hours before the Oscars that the result had been leaked and Lanthimos had won, multiple books in New Jersey and offshore took the odds off the board.
"It was all over Twitter that someone knew he'd won," Bogdanovich said. "In this day and age of social media, as soon as someone sends it out there, it becomes gospel.
There are reportedly only two PwC partners who know the Academy Awards results beforehand.
The books limited their liability on the Oscars by lowering their wagering limits, with William Hill taking $500 max bets.
Zeniuk (@lasvegascris) views the incident as a positive example of how a regulated legal sports betting industry can easily spot suspicious betting activity.
Will Nevada get in on action?
Bogdanovich said he expects a Nevada book to request approval from the state's Gaming Control Board to take action on the 2020 Oscars.
To receive approval to take bets on the Oscars, a book would have to make a formal request for consideration at least 30 days in advance of the event.
That would give the board time to examine the process of how a winner is picked, how votes are counted and where that information is stored.
A Nevada book hasn't made a request to take bets on the Academy Awards since 2012, according to GCB research analyst Michael Lawton.
"At that time it was denied because the Board had not yet approved any nonsporting event," Lawton wrote in an email.
The GCB granted its first approval for a voting/ballot-based regulation in 2014 for the Horse of the Year and has since approved several other vote-based wagers. But they've all been connected to sports or race, such as the NBA MVP.
William Hill took wagers on the big six categories of best picture, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress and best director.
Best picture generated the most action, by far. Bettors won on "Green Book," which closed as the 2-1 second choice behind "Roma" and was the second-most popular wager at William Hill.