Days before the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, the top favourites to win the crown are already revealed, basing on the betting odds available for the beauty pageant held at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States.

Brazil’s Marthina Brandt and Australia’s Monika Radulovic are the top contenders for the 2015 Miss Universe title with betting odds of 5.00 and 6.00, respectively. Not far behind are the bets from India (Urvashi Rautela) and USA (Olivia Jordan), who shares odds of 7.50 and Philippines (Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach) and Indonesia (Anindya Putri) with same odds of 8.00.

All odds are taken from sportsbet.com.au, which has the complete lines and names for all 2015 Miss Universe contestants in their website.

For those uninitiated in (sports and entertainment) betting, the computation for the payout is simple; the amount of wager multiplied by the betting line equals the total payout. Below is an example, with the amount of wager at $100 and using odds of Miss Brazil, Miss Australia and Miss Philippines:

For Miss Brazil: $100 x 5.00 (betting line) = $500 (payout)
For Miss Australia: $100 x 6.00 (betting line) = $600 (payout)
For Miss Philippines: $100 x 8.00 (betting line) = $800 (payout)

This means a net profit—subtracting the initial bet of $100-- of $400 if Brandt wins the crown for Brazil; $500 if Radulovic wins the crown for Australia; and $700 if Alonzo Wurtzbach wins the crown for the Philippines.

Betting is popular in sports, particularly in the mainstream sports, soccer, basketball and American football, among others but entertainment betting has started to gain some traction with bettors in recent years.

Miss Universe 2015 Betting Odds – Top 10
Brazil (Marthina Brandt) - 5.00
Australia (Monika Radulovic) - 6.00
India (Urvashi Rautela) - 7.50
USA (Olivia Jordan) - 7.50
Philippines (Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach) - 8.00
ndonesia (Anindya Putri) - 8.00
Vietnam (Huong Pham ) - 9.00
Colombia (Ariadna Gutierrez-Arevalo) - 9.00
Sweden (Paulina Brodd) - 11.00
Thailand (Aniporn Chalermburanawong) -12.00

At the other end of the spectrum, here are the 2015 Miss Universe dark horses— the contestants considered deep underdogs to win the crown but nonetheless have a chance to pull off the upset.

Miss Universe 2015 Betting Odds – Underdogs
El Salvador (Fatima Rivas) - 101.00
Greece (Michaela Fotiadi) - 101.00
Singapore (Lisa White) - 101.00
Slovak Republic (Denisa Vysnovska) - 101.00
Slovenia (Ana Halozan) - 101.00
Croatia (Mirta Kustan) - 101.00
Cayman Islands (Tonie Chisholm) - 101.00
Honduras (Iroshka Elvir) - 101.00
Mauritius (Sheetal Khadun) - 101.00
Bulgaria (Radostina Todorova) - 101.00
Portugal (Emilia Rosa Araujo) 101.00
British Virgin Islands (Adorya Baly) - 101.00
Aruba (Alysha Boekhoudt) 101.00
Albania (Megi Luka) - 101.00

Using the same formula earlier, this means a payout of $1,100- or net profit of $1,000—from the original bet of $100 if one of the underdogs manage to pull off the improbable on coronation night.

Can Miss Australia or Miss Brazil live up to the high expectations and run away with the crown? Or will one of the less-favoured contestants steal the limelight and deliver the upset victory for her country?

The 2015 Miss Universe pageant will be held on Monday morning (Australian time).

Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au, or let us know what you think below.

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