Booker Prize winner The Gathering was the least fancied ever
17 October 2007 - Only one bet of £50 was placed on Anne Enright's Man Booker Prize winning novel, The Gathering, making it the least fancied book ever to win the award, according to bookmakers William Hill.
In a year when 6/4 favourite Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones was the biggest gamble ever seen in the event, Hills said that Enright's book, which started at odds of 20/1, had received virtually no support at all in the betting market.
"One client placed a bet of £50 on the book in August when it was an 11/1 chance, making a profit of £550," said Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe.
"But other than that we did not see a single bet for it."
"From our point of view, with the two hotly fancied favourites, Mr Pip and Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach being beaten, it was the best ever Booker result," he added.
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