Every two years, bettors get a chance to wager on the Olympic Games, as both the Winter and Summer Olympics take place every four years, with two years in between. The games are a chance for the most gifted athletes on the planet to compete on the world stage, and they give bettors an opportunity to wager on some unique and exciting events.
Our handy Olympics betting guide is the perfect primer for learning what kinds of bets you can make on the different Olympic sports. Let’s get started.
Olympic Games Moneyline Betting
A moneyline bet is the most common type of bet in most sports, and so is also popular with Olympics bettors. Simply put, you’re betting on the winner of a team match, like soccer, or an individual sport, like weightlifting. Here are two examples:
In the above example, the moneyline has priced Brazil as the big favourites to win. How do you know they’re the favourite? Because of the minus sign (-), which indicates how much money you have to bet in order to win $100. The underdog, in this case Saudi Arabia, is shown with a plus sign (+), which is how much money you would win if you were to bet $100.
Above, we have an example of moneyline odds on an individual sport – women’s weightlifting. Li Wenwen is the clear favourite based on the -713 odds given to her to win a gold medal. To learn more about these kinds of wagers, check out our complete guide to moneyline betting.
Olympic Over/Under Totals Betting
Our above example shows two different bets on Olympics totals, focusing on the number of gold medals Canada could potentially win.
These odds show both the Over/Under totals for Canadian gold medals, and total overall medals (gold, silver and bronze.)
OVER 4.5 +100 UNDER 4.5 +140
This style of bet lets you wager on whether you think Canada will win Over 4.5 gold medals, or Under 4.5 gold medals. The number beside the total (+100) tells you the payout of that winning bet. For more on Over/Under Totals betting, check out our bet guide.
Olympic Futures Betting
One of the most popular Futures wagers during the Olympics allows bettors to put money on how many gold medals a country might win.
Long before the Tokyo 2020 games begun, the lines opened on the Futures board, and priced the United States as the clear frontrunners to bring home the most gold medals at -990. Host country Japan was priced as +1600, two spots behind the US, but still long shots to win the highest number of golds.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo Games take place from July 23rd to August 8th, 2021. Over 11,000 athletes representing over 200 countries will participate in 33 sports.
New to the Olympic games this year are the sports of skateboarding, rock climbing, surfing and karate.
