Cricketer Ben Stokes is clear favourite to win Sports Personality of the Year, but is that a good thing for the Cricket superstar? Perhaps not…
OddsMonkey has looked back through the records, and in the last five years only Andy Murray has won as the pre-show favourite.
And even though Stokes is a huge odds-on favourite at 1/10, which is over 90%, that also does not mean too much when it comes to the SPOTY award and you only need to look back to 2017.
In 2017 Anthony Joshua was also 1/10 to win, he was 1/100 to finish top-three, and during the show as the top-three were about to be confirmed he odds were as short as 1/50 – yet he did not win, he did not finish top-three in what was one of the biggest upsets in sporting betting history.
Going back ten years and Ryan Giggs was a huge 20/1 winner, so SPOTY does bring on upsets.
Looking back over the last decade, nearly half the pre-show favourites have not walked away with the gong, also including last year when Tour De France winner Geraint Thomas beat England football captain Harry Kane to the honour.
| Sports Personality of the Year | Winner | Runnder-up | Third | Pre-show Favourite |
| 2009 | Ryan Giggs | Jenson Button | Jessica Ennis | Jenson Button |
| 2010 | Tony McCoy | Phil Taylor | Jessica Ennis | Tony McCoy |
| 2011 | Mark Cavendish | Darren Clarke | Mo Farah | Mark Cavendish |
| 2012 | Bradley Wiggins | Jessica Ennis | Andy Murray | Bradley Wiggins |
| 2013 | Andy Murray | Leigh Halfpenny | Tony McCoy | Andy Murray |
| 2014 | Lewis Hamilton | Rory McIlroy | Jo Pavey | Rory McIlroy |
| 2015 | Andy Murray | Kevin Sinfield | Jessica Ennis-Hill | Andy Murray |
| 2016 | Andy Murray | Alistair Brownlee | Nick Skelton | Andy Murray |
| 2017 | Mo Farah | Jonathan Rea | Jonnie Peacock | Anthony Joshua |
| 2018 | Geraint Thomas | Lewis Hamilton | Harry Kane | Harry Kane |
Ben Stokes comes in as huge favourite, after winning the Cricket World Cup and then his wonderful match winning Ashes innings at Headingley and England all-rounders do perform well with both Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff taking the title.
OdddsMonkey spokesman Peter Watton commented: “Sports Personality of the Year actually has a history of throwing up shocks, and the last favourite to win was back in 2016 with Andy Murray – who has a wonderful record with three wins, but he is not up for the prize in 2019.
“Ben Stokes is huge favourite, but as the voting only takes place on the night, you never know and because of that we think Welsh rugby captain Alun Wyn Jones could be the dark horse at 28/1 if all of Wales get behind him.”
Sports Personality Of The Year Winner Odds
Ben Stokes – 1/10
Dina Asher-Smith – 8/1
Raheem Sterling – 16/1
Lewis Hamilton – 20/1
Alun Wyn Jones – 28/1
Katrina Johnson-Thompson – 40/1
Odds correct at time of writing
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