Olympics Medal Tally Betting Forgets It’s A Brave New World

(Source: Trainholic [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

It is never to early to look forward to the Olympics and this time round all eyes are on Tokyo. The city is still preparing the various sporting event venues and the athletes are still training to compete in them, but which nation will win the most medals? Well the Olympic medal tally betting books like Bovada, one of the best online betting sites in the US today, have Team USA way out in front, but let’s remember, this is a far different world from the one of four years ago.

It is very easy to see why bookies like Bovada have the US at such a short price in their Olympics medal tally betting opportunities. The US has a bit of a record for going home with the most and Tokyo 2020 is, on the face of it, unlikely to be any different. That’s why they get 1/20 to win the most, however, in these days of unpredictability, there’s just a hint that relying on previous results to predict those next of summer might just be folly. After all, times have changed. Several times.

Frequently the desire to keep politics out of sport is espoused by politicians who then waste no time to have their picture taken with sporting winners, and never has this hypocrisy been more evident than in the tit-for-tat Olympic boycotts of the 1980s. By comparison with today, the 1980s were so stable and the Olympic medal tally betting markets seem to have forgotten that. It is therefore imperative, if you take advantage of US gambling laws to bet on it, you don’t forget.

USA 1/20 Favorites To Win Most Gold Medals At Tokyo 2020

 The Machiavellian machinations of world leaders like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping might not instantly seem the sort of thing that would affect Olympic medal tally betting markets, but let’s remember these men are all about ego and with the UK electing Boris Johnson there’s a lot of testosterone swilling around. The degree to which these men would seek to give their team an advantage so they can brag about the result afterward should not be underestimated.

Games Of The XXXII Olympiad

• Date: 24^th July – 9^th August 2020
• Location: Tokyo, Japan
• Sports: 33
• Disciplines: 50
• Events: 339
• Athletes: 11,091
• Nations: 206

The Russian doping scandal showed the state only too happy to participate in cheating, and anything Russia can do the Chinese seem to feel they not only can do better, but in some ways have to do better. That’s why the Chinese get 8/1 in the Olympics medal tally betting markets, despite having little chance of pulling it off, and if you’re going to bet on sports in the US backing your team, just remember, the bookies aren’t in this as a charity organization.

Olympics Medal Tally Betting Open At Bovada Now

 Their odds are touted in the full knowledge that WADA does its best, but against the apparatus of a state determined to evade their checks they stand little chance. The protests against Sun Yang recently prove this issue hasn’t gone away, that states still try to tip the scales, and the Olympics medal tally betting markets are apt to be a little skewed from that reality. Maybe not so askew that 25/1 Great Britain will go home with most medals, but if 100/1 Russia did, we’d know why.

Medal Tally Odds

• Spain – 1000/1
• Italy – 500/1
• France – 500/1
• Korea – 250/1
• Japan – 200/1
• Germany – 100/1
• Russia – 100/1
• Great Britain – 25/1
• China – 8/1
• USA – 1/20

There are fears of dirty tricks and fake news, hacking and terrorism, worrying at these games already, the Olympics medal tally betting just one of the signs on the periphery that the XXXII Olympiad is possibly not going to go as smoothly as everyone, especially Team USA, believe it will. Bookies like Bovada, one of the best online sportsbook sites in the US right now, know different, and that’s why China and Russia get the prices they do. Welcome to the dystopia.