Oscar night 2007 is now so close that Eva Longoria is probably being stitched into whatever moronic outfit she’s chosen to wear as we speak; but that would be forgetting the real message of the Oscars – making money out of the winners by betting on them.

This year hasn’t been a good one for Oscars betting – you know that Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker and Martin Scorsese are going to win Oscars and so does everyone else, that’s why the odds have been so stupidly teeny. But the Best Picture Oscar is so up in the air that any of the five nominated movies could feasibly win the prize. That means good odds, and that means you’ll make more money when you win. Marvellous, huh?

Here’s part one of this year’s Best Picture Oscars betting odds – for The Queen, Letters From Iwo Jima and Babel – with help from Paddy Power…