The Nobel Prize Winners: Betting Odds

The Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious annual international awards in recognition of scientific, cultural and academic advances. This week the Nobel Prize 2015 has been awarded to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald in physics, and to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura in Physiology and Medicine. The Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Literature and Peace have not been awarded yet, and the bookmakers are accepting bets.

Online oddsmaker Ladbrokes puts Svetlana Alexievich, the author of "Voices From Chernobyl," as the favorite for the literature prize at 5 to 1 odds to win. Other notable writers mentioned as favorites for the prize include Haruki Murakami at 6-1 odds, Philip Roth (10-1), Joyce Carol Oates (12-1) and Bob Dylan (33-1). For the Peace Prize, it's a wide-open race, German Chancellor Angela Merkel among the favorites at 2-1 odds at Pope Francis at 6-1.