Olympic Sports Betting

Nobody knows for sure when Olympic sports betting began (our guess is around the time of the first Ancient Olympic Games in Greece, which would be 776 BC) but it is certainly more popular today than it ever has been in the past. One reason for the Olympic sports betting boom is that satellite broadcasting now allows us to watch an ever-widening variety of Olympic competitions live and direct. Another is that the Olympic Games only take place every four years (every two years if you count the Summer Games and Winter Games as part of the same event) and the gap between each event gives sports betting fans plenty of time to get enthusiastic about the next one.

Because the Olympic Games involve so many competitions in so many sporting disciplines, every event brings with it a multitude of Olympic sports betting opportunities. Some of these opportunities are fairly predictable – for example, you can bet on an Olympic tennis match in much the same way as you can bet on any other tennis match – but the Games also present some unique opportunities that you can't take advantage of at any other time. Here are just a few of the main ones:

Olympic Sports Betting Options

Olympic Personalities

In the months and weeks leading up to an Olympic Games you can normally bet on a variety of markets that involve 'Olympic personalities' of some sort. For example, you will often be able to bet on who the Flag Bearer will be in the Opening Ceremony, who will light the Olympic Flame and who will be selected as the Flag Bearer for the Closing Ceremony. These markets are usually of less interest to serious sports bettors than ones that concern the competitions themselves, but they can still be popular, especially among bettors who happen to live in the host nation.

Most Olympic Medals

The big question on the minds of most fans of the Olympics is which country will manage to win the most Olympic medals, and so it isn't surprising that bookmakers allow you to make your own prediction and place a bet accordingly. There are usually several markets in this general area, so you can bet on which country will win the most medals overall, which country will win the most gold medals or even on which type of medal (bronze, silver or gold) will be won most by the host nation.

Patriotic Markets

Because sports betting enthusiasts usually enjoy betting on the success of teams from their own nation, each country tends to offer its own range of 'patriotic' betting markets. For example, bookmakers in Great Britain will offer a range of markets on the success of Team GB as a whole, so you will be able to bet on the total number of medals that will be won by Great Britain, how many gold medals will won by Great Britain, how many Athletics medals will be won by Great Britain, and so on. These patriotic markets are always extremely popular because they give bettors the chance to try and make money without ever having to oppose competitors from their own country.

Unique Markets

Each Olympic Games is a unique event, and that means there are always some fairly unique markets to reflect that fact. For example, past markets have allowed us to bet on how the weather will be on a certain day, or on whether or not a particular competition would be disrupted in some way. Because unique markets can and do change from event to event, our advice is to simply keep your eyes peeled for them throughout the Games so that you don't miss one that you might be interested in.

Next Host Nation

Whilst it is always exciting to look forward to the next scheduled Olympic Games, sports betting fans can also try to win themselves some profits by predicting who will be selected as the host nation for future Games. For example, no host nation has yet been selected for the 2020 Olympic Games, and so betting is already available for that even though we are years away from the 2020 event itself. Betting on the next host nation is definitely a niche interest, but it is still nice to know that the opportunity exists for those who want to think that far ahead.

More Olympic Sports Betting Markets

These are just some of the betting markets that are focused on the Olympic Games themselves, and you will no doubt encounter others as the popularity of betting on the Olympics continues to grow. In addition, you can also bet on the sporting competitions themselves, and to help you navigate your way around that huge subject we have a separate page for each type of Olympic sports betting that you are likely to be interested in. For now, we'll leave you to familiarise yourself with those pages and wish you good luck with your bets!