It’s that time of the year again. No, Eurovision is not upon us, yet. But, the talk about it starts here and now. While May might seem distant to some people, it is right around the corner. Every country in the world, at least the part of it turned to music, knows this. Preparations are well underway, and we expect so much from the upcoming event. Yes, it is not an ideal situation for some countries, and the host was changed due to unprecedented events in parts of Europe, but we have to work with what we have.
What’s important is the music we’re going to listen to, and the messages of love and peace that we hope are going to be transmitted across the globe. Eurovision as an event was always there to bring people together, and this one must complete this task like no other before. First, we are going to talk about last year’s winner. After that, we’re going to cover the host nation, before we move on to the most interesting part. In recent years betting on this music contest has become quite popular. The tradition of wagering on the best contestants will continue this year too.
2024 should be the year of peace and music and the tides of the most recent happenings in Europe should change with the positive energy it’s going to transmit. So let’s see what we can expect from the incoming competition and later on you can check out what these EuroVision song contest bookies predict will happen when it’s all said and done.
The Past Winner
In what’s seen as a controversial decision by some. The top nation at most recent Eurovision was Ukraine. The Kalush Orchestra was the band. They performed song Stefania. It was dubbed as a winner long before the final whistle was blown. This contest is not about politics, but this was seen as an attempt by the world to send its message to Russia. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is still active. Considering the former Tsarist land is the aggressor here we won’t be seeing Russian contestants again for the foreseeable future. They were disqualified last year too. This is an unfortunate turn of events. Many of us believed that there will never again be a war on European soil but here we are. Due to this matter between two European countries the winner Ukraine is not safe for contestants and audience alike.
Who Will Host 2024 EuroVision?
As we said, the armed conflict in Ukraine is still ongoing, and due to safety reasons, the competition will not be hosted in Ukraine. Kyiv hosted Eurovision back in 2017 but that will not be the case again. It is quite unfortunate, considering that Ukraine managed to win this competition a few times in the past, showing that they take music seriously and that they have immeasurable talent. So, with their situation remaining unsolved the UK had to step in. Liverpool got the honors and the world’s most premium song contest will be held at Liverpool Arena, from the 9th to the 13th of May. The UK has quite a history with this competition and it is at the moment the record holder in terms of times they hosted the contest. London, Edinburgh, Brighton, Harrogate, and Birmingham had the honors in the past. The capital of England was the host four times. Moving on from this subject, let’s see how the bookmakers see this competition through odds.
Who’s The Favorite to Win it All?
As always, the competition is sky-high. As we said, you might not be thinking about this song contest every day, but thousands of musicians across the world do. Their effort is recognized by bookmakers, and we already have a few of the favorites singled out. As you can probably guess, the favorite remains the same as last year. Yes, the situation in Ukraine is hard, and there will be a lot of emotions involved, which favors them to win it all once again. If they do, and the war ends they could be hosts in 2024 which would be quite a romantic story. We can only hope that everything pans out like that.
But, other countries will not give up. One of the more recent winners is also lurking behind. Yes, we are talking about Italy. A very musical country that saw what Eurovision can do to the entire country and the careers of musicians with the most recent success of Maneskin. These are the two principal favorites, but the rest of the bunch is not far behind. The United Kingdom, the host in this situation is behind their back according to bookmakers together with Sweden. The top five favorites are closed with another quiet musical country – Spain. If you want to know who enters the top 10, we’re all up for it. The next five countries are, in no particular order, France, Australia, Greece (the mainstay of all of these years), Norway, and Switzerland.
Check Out The Odds
While betting on Ukraine would be a wise decision once again, you might not be tempted after seeing the odds on their win. Some of the other favorites have better odds, and you might get pulled to gamble a little. After all, betting safely is not for everyone. A good wager needs to include at least a little bit of a risk. So, with the odds being 7/2 on Ukraine you’re not risking too much. You’ll be much better off favoring Sweden on 8/1 or Italy on 19/2. There’s a little bit for everyone.
If you move the top three nations you’ll notice that this year’s host nation pays out well with odds set at 16/1. Yes, it involves a little bit of a risk. But when we see that the UK stepped in for Ukraine and showed their goodwill, people will be voting for them too. And the odds are fine too. If you’re not too fond of guessing the winner you could always try and hit the top five selection where you have Ukraine standing at 1/2, Italy at 4/11, Sweden at 1/7, and the UK at 2/5. The choice is up to you.