After months of selections and internal decisions, that time is here again when bookmakers all over Europe take a long hard look at all the entries for this year's Eurovision Song Contest and decide on the odds to offer punters eager on making a profit on their predictions.
Sky Bet are one of the first to do so, and they have just published their starting odds on each song winning the international final. Early favourites include hosts Greece, and qualifier contestant Belgium. Germany and Romania join them on odds of 7/1. Bets at Sky Bet open as follows (Please note, opening odds and previous odds in brackets if the odds have changed):
Belgium 15/2
Sweden 8/1 (10/1) (14/1) (33/1)
Greece 8/1
Romania 9/1
United Kingdom 9/1
Croatia 10/1 (9/1)
Germany 12/1 (7/1)
Denmark 16/1
Norway 16/1 (20/1)
Bosnia and Herzegovina 16/1
Switzerland 16/1
Turkey 16/1
Malta 18/1
Estonia 22/1
Cyprus 28/1
FYR of Macedonia 28/1
Netherlands 33/1
Poland 33/1 (25/1)
Ireland 40/1
Finland 40/1 (50/1)
Russia 40/1 (80/1)
Slovenia 50/1 (40/1) (33/1)
Monaco 50/1
Israel 50/1
Spain 50/1
Belarus 66/1
Latvia 66/1
Iceland 66/1
Armenia 66/1
Albania 80/1 (100/1)
Lithuania 80/1 (50/1)
Ukraine 80/1 (100/1)
France 100/1
Moldova 100/1
Portugal 100/1
Bulgaria 100/1
Andorra 100/1
You can follow the odds yourself online at skybet.com, where you can also see the odds for the qualifier round winner.
It is worth bearing in mind that odds usually drop dramatically as the favourites change, a point illustrated perfectly by Denmark's 2000 winner Fly on the wings of love, which started off at an unpromising 100/1 to shorten to a hot favourite (with very short odds) in the week of the contest. Fans who are able to discern at this early stage could well win a fortune with a well-informed guess!
Early changes suggest that Sweden was grossly underestimated, the odds on Sweden have come in from 33/1 to 8/1 already having moved in further throughout the day (14/1 and 9/1). Ladbrookes are offering 6/1 only on Carola's chance of victory. This suggests that Sweden are favourites with them. Neighbours Norway have seen their odds cut from 20/1 to 16/1. The odds on a Swiss victory have moved out from 16/1 to 33/1 and then back to 16/1, suggesting that their chances of victory are not as strong as originally thought. Russia's odds have halved from 80/1 to 40/1!
