Miss Italy and Miss Philippines are the front runners with 12–1 odds. Miss Canada and Miss England are both in second place with 15–1 odds.
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Miss Italy Sofia Bruscoli
Age: 17 Height: 177 cm
Occupation: Model |
Online betting, popular with sports like football and horse racing, has become firmly entrenched in the world of beauty pageants with sites on the internet now offering odds and taking bets on the likely winners of the 2005 Miss World contest.
Sportsbook.com, a leading online betting, gambling and gaming company, was one of the first to release their odds for the contest, which will be held in Sanya, China, on Dec 9.
Oddschecker.com goes a step ahead. The site has put out a table,
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Miss Canada Ramona Rina Amiri
Age: 24 Height: 172 cm
Occupation: Medical Research Assistant |
with each of the 102 contestants‘ odds from a variety of online bookies.
So while Sporting Odds gives Miss Philippines, Carlene Aguilar, a 6–1 chance, Bluesq.com‘s score is 8–1.
It remains to be seen whether the crown will go to Miss Philippines. “I don‘t think the odds are an accurate estimate of which girl‘s going to win. The bookies‘ favourites would be the girls the other contestants may have to contend with—the ones that will definitely be in the top 15 or 20,” says Hayden. But for the ones who feel the
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Miss Philippines Carlene Aguilar
Age: 23 Height: 175.3 cm
Occupation: Student |
sole purpose of beauty contests is a good laugh, bestbetting.co.uk is the site to visit.
There‘s a section where you can bet on whether any of the contestants will faint on stage during the finals, and many more such probabilities. The rest is left to luck.
Now if only these odds were foolproof, we‘d watch that show for sure.
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Miss India - Sindhura Gadde
Age: 21 Height: 175 cm
Occupation: Student |
And if you‘re wondering, Miss India Sindhura Gadde‘s odds on sportsbook.com are 30–1, while most of the bookies on oddschecker.com give her a 20–1 chance.
When actor Diana Hayden took the Miss World crown in 1997, betting on the contest hadn‘t started online.
“I heard after I won that I was a favourite in the betting polls,“ Hayden says.
Yukta Mookhey, who was crowned Miss World in 1999, was
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Miss England Hammasa Kohistani
Age: 18 Height: 170 cm
Occupation: Student |
shocked to know that people were betting on the contest like they would bet on a sport.
“Beauty pageants are already such a delicate subject, don‘t make them out to be a racket,” she says.
There‘s a section where you can bet on whether any of the contestants will faint on stage during the finals, and many more such probabilities. The rest is left to luck.
Now if only these odds were foolproof, we‘d watch that show for sure.
