85% of all bets placed this month have been on Italy winning Eurovision.
You may pretend to hate it, but deep-down Eurovision is everyone’s guilt pleasure. The annual contest pits the finest talent from across Europe (and Australia) against each other in a night is full of twists, political voting, Graham Norton jokes and of course dodgy dance routines. However, if this year’s betting is to be believed, 2017 is shaping up to be a bit of a damp-squib.
Italian entry Francesco Gabbani is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the competitors in terms of odds and also bets placed. Italy are already evens to win the competition without a single note being sung (or at least attempted), implying a 50% chance of winning the event according to the bookmakers. Eurovision punters are even more convinced, in the month to date, a huge 85% of money placed on Eurovision through Oddschecker has been on Gabbani being crowned the winner, accounting to 32% of bets placed.
Francesco Gabbani has been a lot more pro-active in promoting his song compared to others which possibly explains the surge in betting over the last month. A social media dance campaign, 34 million Youtube views and having the song played on various popular European radio channels has been a shrewd strategy by the Italian’s PR team.
The big stakers have got involved too, piling into the Italian entry, including a £2,500+ bet, placed in the last few days. The second most popular nation this year has been Bulgaria. Kristian Kostov has been chosen to represent the nation and in this month alone he’s received 9.2% of all bets. The Bulgarians are currently second favourite in the market, and are 7/2 to take the crown.
The only other nations to receive over 5% of bets this month have been Sweden who are currently 9/1 and 25/1 outsiders Belgium.
How about the UK’s chances? Unlike many other major events, the British enter Eurovision knowing they have absolutely zero chance of winning the title. This year is no different, just a measly 1.5% of bets placed via Oddschecker this year have been on British representative Lucie Jones at 100/1. In fact, we’re that pessimistic only 3.5% of punters think we’ll finish in the top ten.
