How the public is betting Best Actor at the 2022 Oscars

Who will win Best Actor at the 2022 Academy Awards? It looks like a two-horse race as we near the ceremony on March 27.

Will Smith, who eats up every scene as the protective, flawed and demanding father of tennis prodigies Venus and Serena Williams in “King Richard,” is the favorite according to DraftKings Sportsbook at -800. Smith was previously nominated twice in the Best Actor category for roles in two other biographical dramas — “Ali” in 2002 and “The Pursuit of Happyness” in 2007.

If not Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch is the most likely nominee to take home Best Actor at +450. He plays a mean-spirited but repressed cattle rancher in “The Power of the Dog.” Cumberbatch was nominated for Best Actor at the 2015 Academy Awards for his turn as mathematician Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game.”

Here’s a look at how the public is betting Best Actor at the 2022 Academy Awards as of March 25th.

Will Smith (King Richard): -800; 49.07% of the handle; 37.04% of the bets
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog): +450; 20.50% of the handle; 18.45% of the bets
Andrew Garfield (tick, tick... BOOM!): +1100; 11.77% of the handle; 12.92% of the bets
Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth): +2500; 13.46% of the handle; 18.52% of the bets
Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos): +4000; 3.35% of the handle; 8.18% of the bets