Betting on the Summer Olympics

The WhatAcca.com team have put together some interesting facts on Betting on the Summer Olympics.

The Summer Olympic Games only comes around every four years, although it’s arguably the biggest sporting event in the world. After all, the Olympics go back to ancient times where Olympia in Greece used to host a religious and athletic festival which would attract allcomers who would hope to win a laurel wreath and the honour at being the best for a particular discipline

In more modern times, we saw the first Olympic Games staged in Athens in 1896, with more recent Summer Olympics offering customers the chance to place bets on the various sports taking place and the bookmakers will provide an enormous range of betting markets so that you can pick and choose your selections.

Betting on the Summer Olympics explained

First thing’s first, you will need to have an online betting account with at least one bookmaker in order to bet on the Tokyo Olympics. Naturally, this bookie must provide an Olympics betting service and it’s probably advisable to have more than one betting account so that you have more options when it comes to the Olympic sports and the betting markets that are available.

Once you have a registered betting account, it’s then a case of finding a suitable payment method in order to fund this. Having a real money balance will then give you the opportunity to place cash bets on the Summer Olympics, with customers able to choose the Olympic Games from the list of various sports and see what’s available.

When you head to the Summer Olympics betting markets and you’ve selected the sport which interests you the most, you can then scan through the various contenders and choose the one you want to back. By clicking or tapping on this selection and the odds, it automatically adds to a bet slip where you can then select a stake.

Bet on the Summer Olympics Medals Betting Markets

The first port of call for many betting customers is to check out the medals betting markets. It’s always a topic of interest to see which countries are going to be top of the medals table, with several leading nations hoping to enjoy a massive haul of gold, silver and bronze medals.

The Most Gold Medals betting market will give customers the chance to bet on the country which has the most gold medals recorded during a Summer Olympics. You might typically find the USA, China and Japan among the front runners here, with the big nations tending to field more contenders across the various disciplines and that clearly provides an added advantage.

There is also a Most Medals betting market available with some Olympics betting sites, with this simply being the number of medals that each country lands. This might be a win-only betting market or alternatively an each-way proposition, with plenty of countries in the running to get this particular accolade.

Betting on the Summer Olympics Total Gold Medals for Each Country

Every country will have ambitions to be successful at an Olympic Games and you might have an opinion regarding a particular nation’s performance. The good news is that you can pick each country and bet on their overall medal yield. There is often the chance to scroll through hundreds of countries and find the betting options which satisfy you.

For example, there might be the chance to bet on Australia gold medals and it might be that a bookie offers 10/11 that the Aussies get Over 12.5 Gold Medals and 10/11 that they get Under 12.5 Gold Medals. A customer can then decide whether they will land 13 gold medals or more or conversely secure 12 gold medals or less.

Bet on the Olympic Athletics Event

For many, the athletics is the pinnacle of any Summer Olympics and it’s a virtual certainty that many leading bookies will offer customers the chance to bet on the outcome of several races. This includes high-profile events like the 100 metre sprint for men and women, with customers able to back the sprinters that they think will land a gold medal.

Many of these markets tend to be win only, with the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m also popular betting events, while some bookies will offer punters the chance to bet on longer distance athletics races such as the 3000m steeplechase, the 5000m, the 10000m and even the marathon.

In addition to the athletics events, there might also be the opportunity to bet on the decathlon and the heptathlon which are the men and women’s multi-discipline events, while there is also the chance to wager on field events such as the high jump, triple jump, long jump, discus, shot put and javelin.

Sometimes there might be a participant who is competing in the 100m and the 200m, with bookies sometimes creating a special bet where you can bet on whether they will secure a double gold medal, while you might also be able to bet on whether a world record will be secured in a particular race.

How to Bet on Olympic Basketball

Basketball has been an Olympic sport for many years and there’s a highly competitive tournament when it comes to the men and women’s event. Before the action even starts, there is the opportunity to bet on the gold medal, silver medal and bronze medal winners, with match to match betting markets also available.

You might also find an Olympic Games betting site where you can bet on a country to simply win a medal of any description, while there’s also the chance to bet on the group winner, along with a betting without the favourite market which is great if the competition is regarded as slightly one-sided in favour of a team such as the USA.

As far as the basketball game lines are concerned, there is the chance to bet on every match and customers particularly like placing wagers on the Points Spread considering that a lot of the games are regarded as uncompetitive. It might be that you want to back the outsider with a 20-point start or the favourite with a 15-point handicap.

There is the opportunity to bet on the points total for each game so it’s a case of predicting whether the total points in the basketball match will be under or over a certain amount. Naturally, there is also the chance to bet on the winner of each Olympic basketball game and there are also live In-Play betting markets.

Bookies Create Many Olympic Cycling Betting Markets

In addition to athletics, the other popular Olympic sport among the masses is cycling. There are a wide range of cycling events and the Road Race tends to take centre stage, with many professional cyclists participate who have previously been involved in events such as the Giro d’Italia, Vuelta e Espana and Tour de France.

On a similar note, you can enjoy the chance to bet on the Time Trial where the fastest cyclists in the world look to secure the best times in their bid to be on the podium and secure either the gold, silver or bronze medal. There is generally each-way betting markets available for both of these events.

There are also Olympic cycling events take place on the track, with the velodrome playing host to a number of cycling races and that includes the Track Team Sprint and Track Team Pursuit. This is a case of betting on countries rather than individuals and they tend to be competitive betting markets.

Mountain biking, BMX and BMX Freestyle are other Olympic sports which are available from a betting perspective. These events are a case of betting on individuals to claim victory and there is usually a long list of riders from which to choose in order to place bets.

Bet on Summer Olympics Rowing with Leading Betting Sites

One of the more iconic Olympic Games sports is rowing, with individuals and teams taking to the water and bidding to secure some glory for themselves and for their country. The betting sites are generally busy on the eve of a Summer Olympics creating a wide range of betting markets and it provides customers with lots of wagering options.

For example, the Coxless Four event tends to have plenty of appeal from a British perspective, with teams of four rowers competing without a cox to steer them. There are male and female events and the same applies to the Coxless Pair competitions, with this also being a case of betting on the individual nations.

There are also a number of Sculls events that take place in the Olympic Games rowing, with this including the Single Sculls, Double Sculls, Quadruple Sculls, Lightweight Double Sculls and these all tend to be win only markets where it pays to do a little research in terms of the strongest countries who are in direct competition with each other.

Bookies Keen to Provide Olympic Games Swimming and Diving

Swimming is another major sport when it comes to the Summer Olympics, with participants preparing for years on end to ensure they’re in prime condition when it comes to competing in the pool. There are contenders who line up in the freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, while there are also medley and relay events.

Some of the most popular betting events when it comes to Olympic swimming are the 50m and 100m events in the pool, with the bookies tending to price up the various markets well in advance of the semi-finals and other heats before we get to the final.

It’s usually the case that the bookies will only price up a swimming market for a race which is regarded as competitive. Sometimes there is an overwhelming favourite and the betting sites won’t offer the chance to bet on something which is regarded as too one-sided. Why not also take a look at some other useful resources such as the WhatAcca.com Bet Builder guide and resources.

Olympic Games diving is also something that takes place in the pool and there are generally a wide range of punting opportunities. The 10 metre platform event is always the subject of much attention, while you might also be taken by the 3m springboard, synchronized 10m platform and synchronized 3m springboard.

 

What Other Olympic Sports Can You Bet On?

There is the chance to bet on archery at the Olympics including the men and women’s competition, while there is also a team event. There are also lots of opportunities to bet on the different badminton tournaments, with the men and women’s competition affording lots of opportunities on the outright market and also on the betting coupon.

The good news with the badminton is that you can bet In-Play on the various matches and the same applies to tennis which has become an increasingly popular Olympic Games sport, with several leading contenders in the world wanting to compete for a gold medal to add to their other achievements in the sport.

Combat sports takes centre stage where judo is among the many events that are taking place, while you might find there is the chance to bet on different weight divisions such as 60kg and 68kg. The same applies to taekwondo where the weight classifications could be between 58kg, 68kg, 80kg and 80kg +.

Fencing might not a sport that you would usually watch aside from the Olympic Games, although the bookies are generally on point when it comes to the provision of betting markets for some of the leading events. Epee, Foil and Sabre are among the opportunites for medals and there are also team equivalents.

There are plenty of Olympic team betting opportunities and these extend to handball, volleyball, softball and hockey. Therefore, if you want to bet on a certain country to be successful, you can generally locate the betting odds and pick a nation where you think they will be successful.

How to Bet In-Play on the Olympic Games

Olympic Games In-Play betting is available on any event which takes place over a longer time period. For example, the Olympic football matches are covered on a live basis in the same way that you will bet on Premier League football, with the odds changing according to what is happening after the match kicks off all the way through to the final whistle.

The same applies to Olympic basketball, volleyball, handball and table tennis. The In-Play betting markets are constantly changing and it’s great if you want to get an idea of what’s happening before deciding to play an Olympic Games In-Play wager, with the odds constantly fluctuating.

There might also be the chance to Cash Out your Olympic Games bets, with the bookies offering this option for selected Summer Olympics betting markets so that you can close out your bet in advance. If you manage to place a bet on a selection and the odds shorten In-Play, there might be the opportunity to cash out for a profit.

Can I Place Olympic Games Accumulator Bets?

The vast majority of Summer Olympics betting markets tend to be win only, with the bookies wary of customers who have a strong knowledge of sports, especially some of the niche ones where betting generally isn’t available. However, there might well be the opportunity to place an acca when it comes to the team events.

For example, the Olympic Football tournaments have a group stage where you can pick out the winner of each group or alternatively go through a match coupon and choose a team or potentially a selection like Over 2.5 Goals that you can add to a bet slip before placing a multiple wager on the action.

The Best Summer Olympics Betting Sites

There are lots of bookmaker websites out there, with the majority of them having Summer Olympics betting markets although they tend to vary in terms of the sports covered. There is also the fact that some will have more competitive odds than others, so it can pay to compare the different operators and get the biggest price possible.

We recommend having a number of different bookmaker accounts if you intend to place bets on the Olympic Games as you might find that they’re completely different in terms of the sports they cover in-depth along with their betting odds. It’s certainly worth shopping around if you have a strong opinion about something happening.

Should you want to claim a free bet on the Summer Olympics, then you might be able to claim a welcome bonus when you sign up with a particular bookie, with this bonus tending to be added when you make a first deposit and place an opening bet with an operator. Once this bet is initially settled, you can then enjoy a free bet on the action.