SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Coral has suspended betting on Tom Hiddlestone, star of BBC drama The Night Manager and Loki in Thor, to be named as the next James Bond. 
There has been much speculation about who’ll replace Daniel Craig with a number of big names being thrown around. A great increase in betting activity on Hiddlestone this weekend though prompted Coral to first cut his odds to 1/2 before making the decision to suspend betting on the Englishman.
Nicola McGeady, a spokesperson for Coral, said: “There is no smoke without fire, and following the big gamble on Tom Hiddleston in the last 24 hours, we’ve had no choice but to pull the plug on the market.”
She continued: “Earlier in the year there was a gamble on Idris Elba and Damian Lewis, but nothing has come close to the recent gamble on Hiddleston.”
It was reported that Hiddlestone met with Bond director Sam Mendes last week which it would seem has had an impact on betting, but at the time of writing other bookmakers including Paddy Power, Betfair and Ladbrokes are still accepting bets on the market. Hiddlestone is favourite with odds of around 4/6 whilst Aidan Turner, who started out as rank outsider, is next in line at 5/2.
Luther star Idris Elba and Homeland’s Damien Lewis are no longer viewed as the favourites and are available at 9/1 and 10/1 respectively with Paddy Power. Bookmaker seem to believe that Tom Hardy has some potential and the versatile English actor is priced at 5/1 with Ladbrokes.
