Olympic Betting Odds Explained
Learning how to read Olympic betting odds does not require a level of training like the Olympians undergo as they get ready for the games in Paris, as betting odds for all the events are easy to understand. There are a few different types of odds and bets to learn for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. This page is a tool for new bettors to use to get Olympic betting odds explained so that they can get in on the action from everywhere in the world.
- Players should learn that there are many different types of betting odds for the Olympics, including event winners, spreads, gold medal tallies, and more.
- There are three different styles of odds that Olympic betting sites employ: American, fractional, and decimal.
Best Sites For Olympic Betting Odds
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There are many Olympic betting sites to choose from, but Bovada is the clear gold medal winner for American sports bettors. With easy-to-read odds, an in-depth help section that simplifies any questions on how to read Olympic odds, and big bonuses, Bovada is a great site to consider for all bettors. Bovada is also very easy to deposit into. The sportsbook takes credit and debit card brands like Visa and Mastercard, cryptos such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, and every major person-to-person payment app like Zelle, Cash App, and Venmo throughout their exclusive MatchPay program.
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BetOnline has been one of the best sportsbooks for the Olympics for many years, with the online betting site having been around since the 2004 Games in Athens. With a long history, BetOnline has had a lot of time to optimize its site for user experience. Specifically, BetOnline has made itself arguably the best site for new Olympic sports bettors because of how easy it is to use. There are many betting types on the site for the Olympics, with BetOnline doing a great job of explaining all of them for new users who want in on the action.
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Best Olympic Betting Sites
Ways To Bet On The Olympic Games
There are hundreds of individual sporting events to bet on at the Olympics, but there are only a few styles of bet types that you need to learn in order to bet on them all. There are Olympic-specific betting odds and general sports odds that you should be aware of as well.
Outright Winner
Outright winner bets are just as they sound, with bettors simply betting on who they think will win a specific event. These bets often pay large, as you are betting on one player/team to beat every other competitor in an event. Most sites with Olympic betting odds will offer outright winner odds before an event, although some sports at the Summer Games like golf and cycling have live betting outright winner odds.
Most Gold Medals
The most common way to bet on the Olympics before the games start is on a country to win the most gold medals. For summer sports at the Olympics, countries like the United States and China are typically among the betting favorites. Of course, with established favorites, bets on the massive longshots can pay very large if they do win the most gold medals at the Paris Olympic Games.
Total Number Of Gold Medals
Some sportsbooks will offer betting lines specific to the number of gold medals that a country will win during the games. Betting on the total number of gold medals that a country will win at the Olympics is different than betting on the “Most Gold Medals” bet because it means bettors don’t have to focus on what other countries are doing. Instead, they can lock in on what they believe to be the best bet. This style of bet is excellent for players betting on countries that are unlikely to finish with the most gold medals but may do better than oddsmakers expect.
Matchup
For events where multiple Olympians are in action at once, you may find odds on individual matchups. This is common among many Winter and Summer Olympic betting odds across sports like golf, biathlon, and swimming events. Sportsbooks will pick two or more participants and have the bettor pick which one will do better. Matchup bets are essentially head-to-head bets that are decided during a much larger event.
General Sports Betting Odds Explained For The Olympics
- Moneyline: A bet on the winner of a specific match or game, with odds adjusted to provide better payouts for bets on the underdog than bets on the favorite.
- Spread: A number that sportsbooks establish that dictates how much a team is favored by over their opponent. This means that a favorite must win by that much for a bet on them against the spread to be successful, while a bet on the underdog is a success if they either win or just lose by less than the number that the sportsbooks had established. Olympic tennis betting odds often have spreads, with bettors wagering on if a favorite will win by a certain amount of games over the underdog or not.
- Total: Sportsbooks create a betting line for the amount of one specific outcome to happen during an Olympic event, with the bettor just having to bet on that outcome to happen more or less than what the books suggest. This is one of the more common Olympic basketball betting odds.
How To Read Olympic Betting Odds
There are three different ways that require users to learn how to read Olympic betting odds. They all are just slightly different ways of doing the same thing. The three types of ways sportsbooks may lay out their betting odds are in American, fractional, or decimal formats. The top books like Bovada allow users to easily rotate through each style of odds so that you can always bet the way that makes you comfortable.
American betting odds are split into two categories: odds with a “+” and odds with a “-“ symbol next to them. Payouts with American odds do not include your stake, which you also get back if your bet is a success. An explanation of each type of Olympic betting odd is below.
Plus Odds: Indicative of how much money you would win if you bet $100 dollars. For example, if a winning bet had +450 odds then you would win $450 off your $100 bet. Plus odds show who the underdog is in a given event.
Minus Odds: These odds show you how much you must bet in order to earn $100. If a bet that was eventually successful had -250 odds then that means you’d have to bet $250 to net a $100 profit. Teams/players with minus odds are the favorites unless the odds are -110, as that indicates sportsbooks think it is a 50/50 bet.
Maybe the simplest type of odds for the Olympics to understand for math purists, bettors simply multiply their bet amount by the decimal odds to see how much they will get back from the sportsbook if their bet is successful. Decimal odds include bettors' original stake that they will get back if their bet hits. For example, if Canada had 10.0 odds to win an event and won, then bettors would get back $1,000 off a $100 bet.
The standard version of Olympic betting odds in Europe, fractional-style odds indicate how much you would win in the numerator per bet of the amount in the denominator. For example, if Great Britain had 7/2 odds to have the most gold medals at the games then a bettor would win $7 for every $2 wagered. Plus, users get their original stake back as well.
2024 Example Of American, Traditional, And Decimal Odds For The Most Gold Medals In Paris
| Country | American Odds | Decimal Odds | Fractional Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | -850 | 1.18 | 2/17 |
| China | +400 | 5.00 | 4/1 |
| France | +8000 | 81.00 | 80/1 |
| Great Britain | +8000 | 81.00 | 80/1 |
| Japan | +8000 | 81.00 | 80/1 |