How and Where to Bet on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games
The 2022 Winter Olympic Games are now less than a week away. Over a fortnight, 15 disciplines of seven sports will result in 109 gold medals being awarded. That is a lot of betting opportunities. But how can you bet on the action, and what are the best Winter Olympics betting sites?
Dave Ryding, Britain’s first Alpine Skiing World Cup race winner, celebrates his recent Kitzbuehel victory. He is 50/1 to win again at the Winter Olympics. ©GettyImages
Norway Is the Epicenter of the Winter Sports World
In some parts of the world winter sports are more popular than their summer counterparts. Norway is a case in point. Despite a population of just 5.4 million people, it is predicted the small country will win 45 medals at the forthcoming Winter Games.
At last year’s Tokyo Summer Olympics, when there were more than 300 gold medal events, the Scandinavian country won just eight medals. Little wonder Norwegians love winter sports!
Online bookmakers are keen to cater for all of their customers. In a classic case of punter geolocation, it is fascinating to see which online sportsbooks are offering the best betting opportunities on specific Winter Games competitions.
For Live Winter Olympic Betting Head to Bet365
Noticeably, in recent months, as highlighted in our Bet365 review , the operator has offered an excellent ‘in play’ betting service on all winter sports that have been broadcast live on Eurosport. Everything from Biathlon to Ski Jumping has been traded live as the action unfolded. This service will continue during the Winter Olympics.
Bet365, a company that boasts over 63 million customers worldwide, also offers pre-event markets on Biathlon, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined and Cross-Country Skiing. The latter is a stronghold for Norwegian athletes incidentally.
In addition to markets on individual winners and medalists, Bet365 is offering athlete match-ups, country match-ups and, in the case of 10-kilometre Sprint, a ‘without the favorite’ market. Here, Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe is the strong favorite.
Coral Are Cross-County Comprehensive
The Coral sportsbook has skipped head-to-head odds, but they have markets open on all 11 Biathlon competitions plus the dozen Cross-Country events and the three primary Men’s Skiing races: Downhill, Super G and Slalom.
Britain’s Dave Ryding, who recently became Britain’s first Alpine Skiing World Cup race winner, is a tantalizing 50/1 to win the Slalom contest at Coral’s. The firm has Aleksander Aamodt Kilde – another Norwegian – priced as the 3/1 favorite in the Blue Riband Downhill race.
888Sport Olympic Ice Hockey Betting Kings
There are only two gold medal events in Ice Hockey – a men’s tournament and a women’s tournament – but this is the sport 888Sport online sportsbook has chosen to major in.
The five-star betting company has almost every first-round match priced up. They offer games-lines, money-lines and under/over goal-lines on all three match periods plus the outright result.
Bwin and Betway Are the Best Bet for Curling
If Curling, and its three gold medal events, is your sport of choice, Bwin and Betway are the top destinations for betting on the game. Both sites make Canada 2/1 shots in the men’s tournament but, at 9/5, Bwin has declared Great Britain is the narrow favorite for the gold medal.
But Bwin does offer the best odds about the British woman’s Curling team claiming gold. The squad is 7/2 with them. Betway’s odds-compilers are keener on their chances, making the Brits just 3/1.
Both firms, and almost every quality online betting site, has markets on what country will win the most gold medals and most medals of any color. Norway is overwhelming favorites in both fields, but Germany has been heavily supported in recent days.
Olympic Games Twitter Betting Hashtag the Odds
William Hill sportsbook is using its Twitter #YouOdds feature to price up a long list of performance outcomes on Team GB’s results. Amongst requests, the company has set prices on the number of medals the nation will return home with. Currently, over four medals is 6/5. In the gold medal market, less than two golds can be backed at 11/10.
Paddy Power is another betting firm that has produced prices courtesy of Twitter and its #WhatOddsPaddy request-a-bet service. Interestingly, one odds request led to the Irish firm pricing Britain’s Charlotte Bankes at just 5/4 to take gold in the Women’s Snowboarding Cross.
A week before the Game’s opening ceremony, Paddy Power is the only major firm to offer betting markets on men’s and women’s Skeleton. They are also alone in providing odds on all 13 Freestyle Skiing competitions.
