It was a good night for pooled predictions on the first live evening of Eurovision 2016, with nine out of ten of the bookies’ favourites making it to the final.
Just before last night’s final, the pooled bookies predicted the ten finalists to be Russia, Armenia, Malta, Netherlands, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Iceland, Hungary and Croatia, with the tenth to come from a tight battle between Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Estonia. In the end, Austria was the lucky one from those three, while Iceland dropped by the wayside to make way for Azerbaijan.
Bookmakers had correctly predicted the crash of Greece as its 100% qualification record was broken, although it was Bosnia-Herzegovina that shared this fate in the end, rather than Azerbaijan.
With eight countries now swept out of the running, the remaining odds for overall winner remain largely unchanged at the top. Russia, fresh from qualification last night, still reigns supreme amongst punters; odds are tightening, with some bookies offering less than evens for a Sergey victory.
The order remains familiar with Ukraine, France, Sweden, Australia, Armenia and Malta following the frontrunner, but Netherlands now creeps up into the bookies’ eighth place after a Douwe Bob’s semi success. Israel and Serbia complete the top ten, to be tested alongside Ukraine and Australia in tomorrow’s show.
If yesterday’s form is to be repeated, then the following bookies’ tips for qualification are likely to be the lucky ones at the current standing:
- Ukraine
- Australia
- Serbia
- Latvia
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Israel
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Norway
