It is that big time of the year again when the weekend is heated up by the Eurovision Song Contest. This has grown to be such a popular betting event that it has become hard to ignore it. This year’s edition is being held in Lisbon and it is the 63rd edition of the event.
2017 Winners
Last year’s edition was held in the Ukraine and after some controversy as Russian entrant Julia Samoylova was banned from entering the country which naturally sparked up some tensions, that was all pushed to the background as Portugal got their first Eurovision win in 53 years. The song was “Amar pelos dois” (Loving For Both of Us), performed by Salvador Sobral. Bulgaria and Moldova finished second and third respectively for their highest ever finish. Of the Big Five nations (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK), only Italy managed a top ten finish while hosts Ukraine finished with their worst ever tally of points.
Eurovision 2018 Odds*
Cyprus 9/4, Norway 7/2, Israel 5/1, France 11//2, Lithuania 12/1, Sweden 14/1, Estonia 22/1, Czech Republic 25/1, Moldova 25/1, Bulgaria 28/1, Italy 33/1, bar 40/1* (betting odds taken on May 9th, 2018 at 11:04 p.m.)
History of the Eurovision Song Contest
The first ever Eurovision song contest was hosted in 1965 when it was called the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Prix. The inaugural winners were Switzerland. The last winner before the change was the UK with Sandie Shaw’s “Puppet on a string”. It changed to the Eurovision Song Contest for the 1968 edition which was hosted in London and was won by Spain. The first ever winner for the UK was Lulu with “Boom Bang-a-Bang” in 1969 when there was a four-way tie at the top between the UK, Spain, Netherlands and France.
Ireland got their first win in 1970 thanks to Dana’s “All Kinds of Everything”. One of the most famous Eurovision groups of all time is ABBA who got the title for Sweden in 1974 in Brighton with “Waterloo”. Ireland are the most successful nation ever in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest with seven wins, followed by Sweden with six. France, Luxembourg and UK then all have five titles each. There have been more English language winners of the Eurovision Song Contest (31) than any other. The next most successful has been French with 14 wins.
Qualification
The Eurovision Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) all just go through straight to the final. So they don’t have to bother about qualification. For the rest of the entrants, there is a semi-final stage. There are two nights of semi final action and Portugal (as reigning champions), Spain and the UK will vote on the outcome of Semi Final 1, while France, Germany and Italy vote on the outcome of semi-final two. There are in total 26 spots in the Final with the Big 5 occupying their places along with the reigning champion Portugal
UK and Ireland entries
The UK have SuRie representing them with “Storm” while Irish hopes are with Ryan O’Shaughnessy with “Together”. Neither of them have been particularly well backed though in the outright winner market with Ireland at 50/1 and the UK at 200/1 odds* (betting odds taken on May 9th, 2018 at 11:04 p.m.)
2018 Eurovision Preview
Most of the hype ahead of the Eurovision 2018 has been about Israel’s entry “Toy” by Netta. It has become a Youtube sensation and punters have been all over Isreal taking the win. With a tremendous voice and her signature looping as she tries to become the fourth Israeli winner of the competition she is the clear favourite. There is just so much hype and attention on her and the theme of the song is about female empowerment which fits well into the current social and political climate.
But as the competition has drawn closer some of the attention has been shifting to Cyprus with their entry “Fuego” by Eleni Foureira. This is one that has caught more and more attention which is a simple enough love song but it is upbeat and should be getting through to the final. The price on a Cyprus winning has been dropping all the time and they can benefit from a lot of generous voting support that they seem to have from the likes of Spain, Ireland and Greece.
This is as political as it is musical. For example, the Ukraine are going to be well supported in the votes by neighbouring countries and this tends to be the way for a lot the entries. Everyone can clearly see who is voting for them or not and so you will see common voting blocs creep up. Norway and Estonia have been right there in the Eurovision 2018 betting with Boylesports but they haven’t attracted as much hype is right Israel or Cyprus. Estonia have gone operatic which may work against them as the common theme of female solo artist winners are in a pop vein.
Norway have gone super funky with Alexander Rybak, charming his way through “That’s How You Write a Song” which is pretty much going to put a smile on everyone’s face and he even busts out a violin solo as well. That’s a pretty strong contender. The song is catchy but the vocals may not quite be there to go all the way and win it. France who are straight into the Finals remember, are running with a low-key earnest entry from Madame Monsieur called “Mercy” which probably isn’t going to do a great deal.
The Czech Republic’s Mikolas Josef is another who is going to appeal to the YouTube generation with the semi-rap affair called “Lie To Me”. It’s modern fare that you would hear on any mainstream radio station and really the only thing against him is that most male solo winners do it with more earnest songs and so the style and genre of the song may not totally fit the bill. Whoever you are considering for your Eurovision 2018 betting winner, look for each way odds where you can get them.
Predictions
This is a tough one to call. The favoured style of winners recently have been pop solo Women, sincere male solo artists and the odd recent wildcard thrown in there like Conchita Wurst winning in 2014. It really is just a shot in the dark. Last year’s winners Portugal did top out their semi-final though and as Cyprus are going last in their semi-final, which is always a benefit, they have a good chance of winning their semi and going on from there and they are good value at 9/4 odds* (betting odds taken on May 9th, 2018 at 11:04 p.m.) to win the thing outright.
Yes, there is the hyped, hyped and further hyped Israel entry but that at the end of the day may actually put off voters when it comes to it. Everybody may think that everyone else is voting for them and not actually do so. The best double priced figure that we can see is the Czech Republic who would be one of those breaking the general norm of things to get the win. If you do fear Israel, look in the Without Israel Market for options.
Ireland are a great choice to make it through their semi-final because voting should be on their side and they have a pretty solid entry. Ukraine could surprise because of voting favours from neighbours while once again the UK can’t seem to come up with a solution to get themselves fully into the picture.
