Odds Available For 2012 Mercury Prize

I was in Germany for the 2006 World Cup. I flew back to England and popped into the bookies after Italy beat France in the finals. The odds were already available for the next major European tournament – Euro 2008, over 2 years in the future. Those English like to bet! Further proof: The Mercury Prize was awarded Tuesday night, but you can now bet on the winner for next year’s prize. In some cases, bands haven’t even announced whether or not they will be releasing an album, while other bands have only provided a single or a tracklisting. From NME:

“William Hill has published an extremely early list of potential nominees for the prize in 2012, with the Leicester band’s fourth album ‘Velociraptor!’ named as the favourite, just ahead of the former Oasis man’s solo debut ‘Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’. Other artists named with short odds are Florence And The Machine, whose second album is due in November, Coldplay’s fifth album ‘Mylo Xyloto’ and Mumford and Sons’s forthcoming second album. Radiohead are also ranked third favourites at 8/1, despite having only released their latest studio album ‘The Kings Of Limbs’ earlier this year and strong rumours that they will be touring in the coming months rather than recording new material.”

Full Odds List for 2012:

Kasabian (7/1)
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (8/1)
Radiohead (8/1)
Ed Sheeran (10/1)
Florence and the Machine (10/1)
Coldplay (12/1)
Mumford & Sons (16/1)
Rizzle Kicks (20/1)
Example (20/1)
Calvin Harris (20/1)
Wretch 32 (25/1)
Laura Marling (25/1)
Miles Kane (25/1)
Elbow (33/1)
All The Young (33/1)
Jessie J (33/1)
Professor Green (50/1)
Hard-Fi (66/1)
Charlie Simpson (80/1)

A tenner on Radiohead sounds about right.