Betting on Bond
The latest James Bond film, Spectre, arrives in theaters this fall. And fans of the franchise are buzzing with speculation about a certain part of this 24th installment…because when it comes to a Bond movie, the only thing as important as who is playing the title role is who is singing the movie’s theme song. From Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger,” to Paul McCartney’s “Live & Let Die,” to Adele’s Oscar-winning “Skyfall,” Bond theme songs are a cultural thing all their own. And so is betting on them, at least in the United Kingdom. Because the British can and do place bets on absolutely anything — sporting events, the Oscars, reality television show outcomes — they also bet on who will be performing the James Bond theme song.
And the speculation around this latest Bond theme music has been particularly frenzied. The British singer Sam Smith, who cleaned up at this year’s Grammy Awards, was an early favorite. Many thought Adele would get another shot. Then the pop star Ellie Goulding posted some pictures on Instagram that seemed to imply she'd been recording the theme at Abbey Road Studios and suddenly she was the odds makers’ favorite.
But then, last week, somebody tried to bet £15,000 — more than $23,000 — on Radiohead. And, just like that, all bets were off. Bookmakers across the UK suspended betting on the Bond theme. Unlike, say, a football match, the outcome of who will perform the next Bond theme is already determined, and some people have access to that knowledge. To dissuade those in the know from profiting from that insider knowledge bookmakers place limits on the size of the wagers.
Rupert Adams works for William Hill, the British bookmaker that got the bet and halted the betting. “The average bet for what will be the next theme tune for Bond or who will sing it is somewhere between 8 and 10 pounds, so obviously alarm bells ring,” Adams tells Kurt Andersen. “It takes it away from what is probably speculation to a person who either genuinely knows or perhaps just believes he knows.”
These days British bookmakers take bets on just about anything that people might have a strong opinion on — from the royal baby’s name to the next actor who will play James Bond (a recent plunge on Damian Lewis has Adams believing that we are about to see our first “ginger-headed Bond”). As for the Spectre theme? “If I was a betting man,” says Adams, “and I am, I would say that Radiohead is definitely going to be announced as the next singers (of the Bond theme).”
