Royal Baby Betting: Options for the Next Big Event

William and Kate

We’ve seen on countless occasions that there is a growing place in the betting industry for novelty markets so the news regarding another Royal Baby has already set the bookies in motion. Novelty bets are nothing new and you could punt on options such as a White Christmas long before the birth of the internet.

However, the digital age gives us far more choice and that popularity continues to grow so, let’s have a look at the markets and all the options for William and Kate’s third baby which is due next spring.

Options

Firstly let’s quickly deal with one of the betting options here: You have the ability to stake on the sex of the Royal Baby but naturally this is a 50 / 50 call between male and female and the available prices reflect that.

In a sense, it’s the same sort of punt as the coin toss in cricket and in fact, not many bookies seem to be bothering with this market. Those that have such as Paddy Power and William Hill are offering the same 10/11 price whether the Royal Baby is a boy or a girl.

By all means take a punt in this market but the real interest lies in betting on the baby’s name.

Out in Front

The Gender of the Royal Baby may be a 50 / 50 call but a female name is some way in front of this particular market. Alice has been installed as the clear bookies’ favourite and can be backed at odds of 10/1 with a choice of bookmakers including bet365 and William Hill.

Arthur is next on the list for most outlets and can be found at a top price of 14/1 with bet365 and MarathonBet while Victoria can also be picked up at that same 14/1 figure with MarathonBet once again.

Those three names are all traditional for a British Royal family and you can look back through the generations to find previous instances where they were used. Arthur, for example, is one of Prince Charles’ middle names so could be a strong option if William and Kate choose to give a nod to the baby’s paternal Grandfather.

Outside Chances

Behind the front runners, there are some interesting options if the Royal Couple choose to move slightly away from tradition and opt for something a little more unexpected. Alexander is at best odds of 18/1 with SkyBet while Mary is priced at 18/1 with SportingBet. A number of options then follow at 20/1 including Diana with Paddy Power, Alexandra with SkyBet, Grace with Betway and James with Betway once again. Apart from the obvious one, none of those four names have any real connection to William and Kate or to any immediate members of their respective families so there is an obvious element of speculation to all of them.

As we keep moving further down, other options include Olivia at 25/1 with SkyBet with Edward at best odds of 28/1 with bet365.

There is some hope for anyone looking to place a bet in this section: With the birth of Prince George, we already have the next in line to the throne after William so there is perhaps a little potential to be creative. Any of the names mentioned above could therefore come into play which is more than can be said for the next batch!

The Ridiculous…

As always with this type of bet, there are some outrageous suggestions but not necessarily from the usual sources. Having made a serious error of judgement by quoting the deceased Ugo Ehiogu as an option to take over as Birmingham City manager, Paddy Power may just be a little more subdued with their offerings from this point onwards.

However, you can still Camilla as the name of the next Royal Baby and Paddy are quoting odds of 100/1. Meanwhile, the same bookmaker has listed Donald and Wayne at the same price of 200/1.

In fact, if you really believe that William and Kate will call the baby Wayne then you can get even better odds of 500/1 with Betway. Feel free to waste some money here if you like but it’s just a bit of fun and not a very serious route towards making a profit.

Key to Finding a Winner

It’s very rare for those immediately descended from the Queen to pick an outlandish name so you really are looking for tradition to win the day. In some ways, our task should be even easier as George and Charlotte are the new baby’s future siblings and both of those names have been taken out of the equation.

Those two suggestions were also at the top of the betting when the markets were previously open so perhaps we should be looking at Alice or Arthur here. We’ve already mentioned that the gender of the baby is a 50 / 50 call but at odds of 10/1 and 14/1 respectively, you could take a punt on both names and still take a profit if just one of them lands.

Of course the choice is yours and you could stick with that tradition or go for one of the longer priced options. We still have some time to wait until we know the outcome but this is a good time to get some value prices in the ante post markets for the next Royal Baby.