Eurovision proves there is great value in non-sports betting

By: david

Posted: May 17, 2016

Updated: May 17, 2016

The value available at online sportsbooks for novelty bets such as Eurovision Winner show that non-sports betting still provides a great opportunity to gamble

Online sportsbooks are not just great places to bet on sport. While most are dominated with sections allowing you to bet on football, bet on tennis, or bet on other sports, many have a “Novelty Bets” or “Special Bets” Sections. These allow you to bet on current affairs, bet on politics, or even bet on TV shows.

Some of the available betting markets are ridiculous (you can bet on the size of Trump’s “manhood”) or very long term (like betting on alien life). However, there is some serious value to be found with special bets. While the enormity of the sports betting industry means that most odds, (at least when betting on major football leagues) are fairly “efficient”; this means that with so many experts playing so much money, odds are generally quite realistic. So, to win big you have to either be right all the time, or predict something incredible (like Leicester winning the league!).

Unpredictability of Eurovision show great value of non-sports betting

Sport can certainly be unpredictable, as those who bet on sports in the UK have learned this season, but at least there’s enough of it that punters who want to bet on sport can analyse trends and form. Annual events like Eurovision, decided by Europe-wide public vote, provide a better chance for great value.

As predicted by Gaming Zion, Australia was leading after the jury vote but couldn’t gather enough support among the European public. Ukraine’s politically charged anthem 1944 won, despite Russia being a clear favourite with bookies. At 23.44 CET, after every act had already sung, it was still possible to get odds of 9.00 (8/1) on Ukraine winning the competition.

For many smart punters who took those odds, betting on Ukraine to win Eurovision was a safe bet. Sopho, who bet at Paddy Power Sportsbook explained that Ukraine was the obvious favourite, after you consider Russia’s unpopularity among the European public, and that Australia has no allies upon whom it can count to vote en masse.

Another winner with Paddy Power, Kevin, sees novelty bets as a great opportunity to make money: “Betting on entertainment is fun, but there’s also a lot of super value available. I didn’t have to look very hard to find great odds for Eurovision and will definitely be betting on similar events in future!”

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