A report in the Mirror says that Matt Smith's odds mysteriously increased from 33:1 to 10:1 in the hours before the official announcement. The Telegraph states that some online betting sites, such as betfair.com, made Smith a 1:3 favorite immediately prior to the airing of Doctor Who Confidential. Since the strengthening of the odds came largely as the result of new bets being placed on Smith, rather than any arbitrary raising of the line by a brokerage, the BBC have had to deny they had "any knowledge of suspicious betting activity".

However, Simon Cable of the Daily Mail has discovered that Matt Smith-betting patrons of Paddy Power's betting website had an interesting geographic pattern. Because online gamblers are required to list their addresses, it is possible to determine that two-thirds of those betting for Matt Smith in the 24 hours prior to revealing Smith as the Eleventh Doctor were from Northampton — Smith's hometown. Paddy Power representatives told the Daily Mail that of the 15 bets for Smith in the last 24 hours, 10 were from Northampton.

Viewers of "The Eleventh Doctor" Confidential will recall that Smith admitted to telling his father of the casting news. David Smith still lives in Northampton.

Nevertheless, no specific allegations against the elder Smith have been lodged, and the BBC statement on the matter would seem to exonerate both BBC employees and Smith's relatives. A Paddy Power spokesperson has said that, even if Smith's relatives did engage in a little "insider betting", they're "not bitter about it — if someone finds out before us, we can't do much about it."