How to Bet on Eurovision with Betfred

| Tuesday 16th July 2024, 16:30pm

Tuesday 16th July 2024, 16:30pm

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the biggest events on the European calendar every year and it is a grand spectacle in which performers representing their respective nations compete to win and secure the hosting of the same event the following year.

This year's Eurovision took place in Malmo, Sweden, and the winning act was Nemo of Switzerland, so that is where the 2025 edition will be held. Interestingly, Eurovision has proven to be popular with some punters for betting, so we at Betfred Insights have thrown this explainer together to give you the lowdown on how to bet on this event.

Format

Eurovision 2024 featured 26 nations in the Grand Final, 20 of whom qualified through the two semi-finals taking place in the days prior. The semi-finals were contested by 31 nations.

The so-called "Big Five" of France, Germany , Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom automatically qualify for the Grand Final because they are the group of countries who via their broadcasters, make the biggest financial contribution towards the organisation of the Contest.

They are then joined by the host nation who is the winner of the previous year's Contest.

In the Grand Final, once all the acts have performed, the televote follows. This is where a representative from a jury from each nation in the final allocates points to their preferred performers on the night. They rank from 1-12 with the latter being the highest.

Once finished they give a base for the leaderboard, before going to the public vote, which combine to deliver the grand total to crown the winning nation.

Markets

Outright winner - You pick the nation you think will win Eurovision.
Semi-final betting - You select a nation who you think will progress from the semi-finals into the Grand Final. You can opt for a winner from semi-final 1 or 2, as well as to qualify.
Ranking finish - This involves choosing a nation and backing them to finish in the top three/10 by the end of the night. Ideal if you're not confident in a winner or the odds are not great. Handy if you want to back a long odds outsider.
Top Big 5 nation - This is where you pick who will attain the highest finish out of the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
Top Balkan nation - This is where you back one of the qualified Balkan nations to achieve the highest-ranked finish in the Grand Final following the television and public votes.
Top Scandinavian nation - This is where you back one of the qualified Scandinavian nations to achieve the highest-ranked finish in the Grand Final following the television and public votes.
Televote winner - You back which nation you think will be most successful from the televote delivered by each jury of the competing nations.
Public vote winner - You back the nation you believe will gain most support from the public.
To finish last - Picking which nation will finish rock bottom following both the televote and public vote.
To score nil points - Selecting a nation you think that could end up getting zere points from both the juries and the public.