Eurovision Betting From Canada

A Complete Guide to Betting on Eurovision From Canada

Many people look forward to Eurovision and it can even be argued that for a lot of people it’s the highlight of their year. Betting on Eurovision can make this special night a bit more special and exciting.

The 2020 edition of Eurovision was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and fans will possibly be doubly excited to see the return of their beloved music tournament.

Eurovision 2021 is scheduled to take place in Rotterdam, Netherlands with 41 participants. These are the same participants who made it to last year’s edition that was canceled.

Here is everything you need to know about betting on Eurovision in 2021.

Eurovision 2021 Betting Odds in Canada

Eurovision 2021 but bookmakers have already started providing their sportsbooks. We have found the best betting odds for Eurovision 2021 that will help you get a bang for your buck below:

Country	Odds in Fractions	Odds in Decimal format	Odds in American Format
Malta	11/4	3.75	+275
Switzerland	9/2	5.5	+450
France	6/1	7.0	+600
Bulgaria	7/1	8.0	+700
Sweden	9/1	10.0	+900
Italy	9/1	10.0	+900
Lithuania	14/1	15.0	+1400
Iceland	18/1	19.0	+1800
Cyprus	25/1	26.0	+2500
Norway	33/1	34.0	+3300

The Best Bookmakers for Eurovision 2021 Betting in Canada

When you are looking for an online bookmaker outside of Canada we recommend you to bet on licensed bookmakers. Usually these bookmakers will carry a license from the UKGC(UK Gambling Commission) or the gambling or gaming authority of another country.

Bookmakers authorized by most countries have stringent regulations but these also limit your ability to gamble because they might not allow you to gamble from Canada,limit your choices when it comes to gambling in Canadian Dollars or have taxes involved.

In our opinion bookmakers licensed by the MGA (Malta Gaming Authority) are best for Canadian residents not only for Eurovision betting but all other forms of sports betting because they give a lot of freedom to sports bettors while also protecting their rights.

Here are some of the best bookmakers licensed by the MGA that have special bonuses for residents of Canada:

What is Eurovision?

The first edition of Eurovision took place in 1956. It was based on the Sanremo Music Festival that was took place in Italy in 1951. Eurovision had been taking place every year since the first edition in the 1950’s.

 2020 was the first year in over 64 years that the competition did not take place because of the Covid 19 pandemic.The organizers hope that this year’s edition will be held with the same enthusiasm and pizzaz as it always has with fans being allowed.

Eurovision is organized by the European Brodcasting Union which is also known as the EBU. More than 50 nations are eligible to participate in Eurovision. Surprisingly,Australia has been participating in the tournament since it was first invited in 2015 when it was represented by Guy Sebastian.

The country with the most appearances in Eurovision is Germany. The country that wins the previous edition of Eurovision hosts the next edition of Eurovision. Since the Netherlands won the previous edition in 2019, the current edition of Eurovision will be held in the Netherlands.

Even though naysaers might say that Eurovision is a bit silly especially due to its elaborate side shows, the event has gained a lot of kitsch appeal and has become popular espicially amongst the LGBTQ+ community.

Some critics of Eurovision have also pointed out that voting in the contest tends to be biased because neighboring countries with similar languages and cultures tend to nominate each other which fetches them a higher score.

In addition, critics point out perceived political aspects to the event such as sudden last minute withdrawals of countries.

Inspite of the criticism, Eurovision 2021 will provide a weekend of joy to the fans of the contest and will be presented by Edsilia Rombley,Jan Smit, Nikkie De Jager and Chantel Janzen.

Bulgaria and Ukraine are slated to return to the contest in 2021 after opting out of Eurovision 2019.Armenia, Hungary and Montenegro will not be participating in Eurovision 2021 after having done so in Eurovision 2019. 

Belarus had planned to participate in 2021 but was disqualified after their intended entry was found to be in violation of the contest’s rules.

Eurovision Betting in Canada

Betting on Eurovision has been gaining in popularity across Europe over the last few years even in countries that don’t tend to perform well in the competition. Bookmakers typically begin offering bets and odds on Eurovision well in advance. 

It is estimated that close to 200 million people tune in to watch Eurovision every year.

If you want to make the most of betting on Eurovision we recommend you to bet on the tournament a few weeks or months in advance. The reason for this is simple, bookmakers tend to offer higher odds in the beginning and the odds start dropping as the competition starts getting closer.

Another reason you should bet early while betting on Eurovision is the fact that some bookmakers may lack information about the songs and the entrants that are being lined up. Fans of Eurovision however, tend to know these details beforehand. Leveraging this information can help you get an edge over bookmakers.

When it comes to Eurovision betting, the most popular bet is the competition winner bet. In this bet, you bet on which country will win the tournament. As the competition draws closer bookmakers open up many other options such as which countries or contestants will be in the semi finals or finish in the top 3, top 5 or top 10.

Eurovision Betting Tips & Strategies

It might seem like betting on Eurovision is like taking part in a lottery because there are many variables involved like the quality of the performances and the reaction of the audiences to the songs. 

The favorites change every year in Eurovision

That being said, there are many trends to have emerged over the years. Take Ireland for example. Ireland has won 7 Eurovision contests which is the most wins since Eurovision began in the 1950’s.

But Ireland’s last victory was way back in 1996 which is a good 25 years. Ireland dominated in the 90’s when it won the contest 3 years in a 1992,1993 and 1994. Ireland won another contest in 1996.

Ever since then no country has won Eurovision in consecutive years.Every year sees a new country win the contest. In fact up until 2010 to 2015 where you would see 1 country win at least 2 titles in a span of 5 years.

Even if you consider a 10 year period to determine the “best” countries, you will notice that there is no clear pattern and a clear favorite or “strong” team. So as you can tell, Eurovision is pretty much an open playing field where you have new favorites emerge every year.

English Songs Usually Outperform songs in Other Languages in Eurovision

Songs that are performed in English usually outperform those in native languages. Between 1996 and 2019, there have been only 3 instances when the winner won the contest in a language that wasn’t English. Those years were:

• 1998 where the winning song was in Hebrew and sung by Israeli singer Dana International.
• 2007 where the winning song was in Serbian and was sung by Serbian singer Marija Šerifović.
• 2017 when Salvador Sobral won the contest while singing in Portguese.

Apart from these years all the winners sang in English. As you can see,this Eurovision betting tip can prove to be very important when you are betting on the winning song in Eurovision.

Abba-esque songs so 1974

There is a Eurovision Song Contest theory that any act that sounds like Abba, the Swedish band that became a worldwide phenomenon after winning the 1974 competition with Waterloo, has an excellent chance of taking out the title. But when it comes to defining the type of tune that wins the Eurovision Song Contest in the 21st century, Abba-esque schlager is the type least likely to triumph. For what one is looking these days is a catchy ethno pop song, ideally a tune that sticks to the intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle eight-chorus formula that has typified most recent Eurovision Song Contest winners. Ethnopop is a eastern European style.

Clever performance gimmicks work

Eurovision Song Contest competitors have three minutes to stand out from the crowd in the performance element of the broadcast that runs for the best part of two hours. The days of being able to take out the Eurovision Song Contest with a vanilla rendition are gone, with every recent competition winner having had a money shot – a moment that stays with viewers until the time comes for the voting to occur. Take note of the ‘performers’.

Rehearsal blogs provide vital insight

The easiest – and cheapest – way to get a decent handle on how the 40+ Eurovision Song Contest entries will perform is to search the Internet for the rehearsal blogs posted by the competition’s most fervent fans. There are some Eurovision Song Contest tragics who arrive in the host city two weeks before the final and spend most of their days watching the rehearsals inside the main arena. If one can sort the wheat from the chaff – the comments of bloggers should be taken with a liberal pinch of salt – it is possible to identify both overpriced and underpriced songs, which is particularly helpful in head-to-head and other Eurovision Song Contest betting markets that are not all about the overall winner.

 Late draw is best draw

Opinion is divided as to the impact of the Eurovision Song Contest draw but anyone who thinks that the order does not matter is kidding himself or herself. From 2003 to 2012 inclusive, the average draw of the Eurovision Song Contest winner was 16.9 and none of the last eight champions have been among the first 16 acts to perform. To put it bluntly, the best draws are the ones in the final third of the show.

Geopolitics matter most

There is no avoiding it: anyone betting on the Eurovision Song Contest needs to understand geopolitics because bloc voting has been rampant since the competition grew in the 1990s thanks to the break up of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. One British academic, the University of Surrey’s Derek Gatherer, went as far as to write a paper on it.

In his 2006 article, Gatherer concluded that five major partnerships existed and even gave them names:

• Balkan Bloc – Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey
• Partial Benelux – Belgium and the Netherlands
• Pyrenean Axis – Andorra and Spain
• Viking Empire – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden
• Warsaw Pact – Poland, Russia and Ukraine

Only two of the last 14 Eurovision Song Contest winners have come from outside the five groups identified by Gatherer and one could argue that 2011 champion Azerbaijan is part of a new one given that is a former Soviet state that became a competitor on

Eurovision Format and Structure

The number of countries participating in Eurovision has been growing steadily over the years.
We have mentioned the number of participating countries in Eurovision from 1951 to 2021

• 1956 7 countries 
• 1959 10 countries
• 1966 18 countries
• 1979 22 countries
• 1998 25 countries
• 2003 26 countries
• 2004 36 countries
• 2008 43 countries
• 2021 41 countries

Until the 2003 edition of Eurovision, the competition was a 1 day event. 

In 2004 EBU, which is the organizer of Eurovision, announced that a semi-finals round would be added to the contest.

EBU made this decision because more and more countries were becoming eligible for the competition and which would increase the running time under the previous format.

This led to Eurovision becoming a 2 day event from 2004 where the first day would be the semi-finals round and the second day would be the finals.

The winners of the sem-final would qualify for the Eurovision final.

In 2008 the format was changed yet again to include a 2nd semi-final round and the duration of the competition increased from 2 days to 4 days.

5 countries qualify automatically for Eurovision final and are called the “big 5”. These countries are France,Germany,Spain, Italy and the United kingdom.

There are 10 qualification spots in each of the semi-final rounds.Each of the qualifying finalists will perform their songs in turn, after which the voting will open across the continent. Voting, for a lot of people, is one of the highlights of Eurovision.

The semi finals of Eurovision in 2021 are scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Thursday while the Eurovision final will take place on May 22,2021 which is a Saturday night.

Every country receives two types of votes: the first kind is from the public and the second kind is from the jury.

The top 10 countries are divided up according to the points they receive. 12 points are awarded to the favorite, 10 the second favorite, this pattern follows all the way down to 1.

A new pattern that has emerged in Eurovision is the fact that as more and more countries participate the total potential number of points has grown. Portugal won Eurovision in 2017 with 758 points.

A draw is unlikely to happen in Eurovision but in the event it does happen the winner is decided on which country wins the most votes from the televote rather than the jury vote.

Once the voting is over and the points are tallied, the winner is announced and receives a special trophy. The winner gives a short interview and then is invited to wrap up the show with the winning song.

Eurovison FAQs

What is Eurovision?

Eurovision is a song content spanning the continent of Europe – though Australia has also taken part in recent years – which takes place in May each year.

It was founded by the European Broadcasting Union with each country submitting a wholly original song to be performed live to the world.

Around 200 million people a year are thought to watch the Eurovision Song Contest each year and a lot of those hold parties in order to mark the occasion.

Betting on Eurovision is also popular, with markets available in the weeks and months leading up to the event, as well as live betting markets for the night of the competition itself.

Which country has won Eurovision the most?

Eurovision has been responsible for launching the careers of various artists. ABBA, a pop group from Sweden, are arguably the top success story having gone on to sell about 380 million albums and singles since their song Waterloo was crowned the winner back in 1974.

Celine Dion won for Switzerland in 1988 despite being French Canadian singer and the United Kingdom’s Brotherhood of Man sold millions of copies of their hit single Save Your Kisses for Me, which won the contest in 1976.

However, it is Ireland that has won Eurovision more than any other country, recording seven victories in total, though the most recent of those wins came back in 1996. Ireland’s seven wins places the country one ahead of Sweden on six, with each of France, the UK, Luxembourg and the Netherlands all winning on five occasions. Israel has won Eurovision four times to date.

Johnny Logan is the most successful songwriter in Eurovision history, having penned the winning entrants on three occasions: 1980, 1987 and 1992. Other songwriters to have won the event more than once are Willy van Hemert (1957, 1959), Yves Dessca (1971, 1972), Rolf Løvland (1985, 1995) and Brendan Graham (1994, 1996).

When is the Eurovision Song Contest?

Eurovision traditionally takes place in late May each year. The contest is held in the country that won the competition the previous year.

This means that in 2021 it will take place in the Netherlands, which won back in 2019 – the event was postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19.

When is the Eurovision final?

In 2021, the final of the Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to take place on May 22.

In addition, the week of Eurovision will include the two semi-finals, which are set to be held on Tuesday and Thursday ahead of the final taking place on Saturday night.

When did Eurovision start?

The first Eurovision Song Contest was held in 1956, having been inspired by Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival which was set up a few years earlier.

The Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland, was the venue for the inaugural competition and there were 14 entrants in total, with each of the seven countries having two songs included.

The seven entrants for the first ESC were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Switzerland. Host nation Switzerland was crowned the winner with Lys Assia’s song Refrain coming out on top to take the title.

Is Eurovision Betting Legal in Canada?

Eurovision betting is legal if you bet on trusted bookmakers based outside of Canada. Legal Casinos in Canada are only allowed to feature parlay bets and because of this reason they often don’t have options for Eurovision betting in Canada.