Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, star of the nominated Lady Bird is Ireland’s leading hope of landing an Oscar this Sunday at the 2018 Oscars ceremony. She is trading as the second favourite to land the Best Actress Award at the ceremonies on March 4th, behind Frances McDormand who has long been the odds-on favourite for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Ronan had been in at 3/1 at one point in the betting, however with Three Billboards collecting awards this season at other ceremonies, then the odds of Ronan getting an Oscar have been drifting really since the Golden Globes.
But that didn’t appear to matter too much to Paddy Power who, because they thought that Ronan deserves a win, the bookmaker paid out on all bets placed on her to win the Best Actress Award. They have basically rewarded anyone who put a bit of faith in her really for taking a patriotic wager.
Asked about the decision to pay out spokesman Paddy Power said: “This is the third time that Saoirse Ronan has been nominated for an Oscar after the 23-year-old got the nod for Brooklyn (Best Actress) in 2016 and Atonement (Best Supporting Actress) in 2008.
“We’re sick of seeing her hit the crossbar, so we’ve decided to take matters into our own hands. We think she’s a winner – even if she did make a bit of a wally of herself in that SNL sketch – so we’ve settled all bets on her to reflect that. It’s cost us about €30,000 all told, but the look on our customers faces when we told them was Oscar worthy.”
Other Irish hopes at the Oscars are with writer-director Martin McDonagh’s for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri which is a price of 5/4 at Paddy Power to land three awards. *(betting odds taken on February 28th, 2018 at 5:35 p.m.). Daniel Day-Lewis is currently a 25/1 shot*(betting odds taken on February 28th, 2018 at 5:35 p.m.) to get the Leading Actor category for his role in Phantom Thread. Consolata Boyle also received her third Oscar nomination this year with the unstoppable Irish costume designer nominated for her work on Victoria & Abdul (50/1*(betting odds taken on February 28th, 2018 at 5:35 p.m.)).
