Olympics Betting Guide

The Olympic Games is arguably the most important of all sports events. Every four years, the Olympics feature thousands of top athletes from all around the world. Even those who don’t usually enjoy sports tend to pay at least some attention to the event.

With so many different sports and disciplines covered, there are many Olympic gambling opportunities. Before we talk about those opportunities in detail, and explain how to make money from them, here are the best betting sites for the Olympics.

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These trusted Olympics betting sites and apps cover every edition of the games, offering excellent odds and great promotions. Compared to some of the other online betting sites available, they are simply miles ahead.

This Olympic betting guide will teach you how to get the most out of using them. We provide tips on how to place your wagers, strategy advice, and much more.

Our Guide to Betting on the Olympics Online

• Olympics Betting for Beginners
• Best Olympics Betting Sites
• Betting on the Tokyo Olympics
• Best Olympics Events to Bet On
• Winter Olympics Betting
• Paralympics Betting
• Simple Tips for Betting on the Olympics
• More Olympic Resources

Some of you may now know how to bet on the Olympics online, so it’s good to go through the basics first and see how the process works.

There’s nothing too complicated about it, you just need to follow a few simple steps to start betting on the Olympics.

It’s that easy to bet on the Olympic Games online! But it’s understandable if you want to know more details before you start. The following pages provide some useful information for getting started with Olympic sports betting.

Picking the best betting sites for the Olympics won’t instantly make you a winner. Your chances of success will improve dramatically, though.

The top sites offer better overall conditions than the rest, so your overall returns from Olympics betting online will be higher. Here are the main factors we explore to make sure that’s truly the case.

The best sites for betting on the Olympics also work on mobile. They are responsive, so you can gamble on the likes of iPhone, iPad, Android, and other devices. Some of the Olympics sportsbooks online also have native apps for the most popular phones or tablets.

If you want to know more about the best mobile options to bet money on the Olympics, check out the following post.

With more than 300 events in over 30 sports, Olympics betting for beginners can seem daunting. Although bet types vary across different sports and events, there are certain bets that apply to every Olympic sport. Here are some of the most popular Olympics bets that can be used across the board.

In-play betting, also known as live betting, enables you to place wagers on events while they are taking place. Rather than wagering on the outcome of an event before it gets underway, live betting allows you to gamble on the action as it unfolds.

Of course, you can’t place an in-play bet on the 100m sprint, as that particular race is over in the blink of an eye. But there are dozens of Olympic sports that accommodate live betting.

Team sports such as soccer, hockey, and basketball are great for in-play betting at the Olympics. With matches lasting well over an hour, there are plenty of chances to make some money.

Here are a few examples of in-play bets.

Olympic betting opportunities are almost endless.

From futures and outrights to wagering on winners of specific events, and from gambling on team medal hauls to regular moneylines, we suggest exploring all the options in order to make the most of your Olympics betting experience.

If you’re interested in learning more about the different types of sports bets, check out the following page.

You can find more useful content related to the games as a whole and the various sports on our Olympics blog. Here are the latest entries.

The Olympic Games offer a ton of different sports and disciplines. It’s important to be selective with your wagers and only target the ones that give you the highest chance of success.

Leading online bookmakers for Olympic Games betting offer all events, or at least most of them, so you should carefully think before going at it. We recommend sticking to sports that you’re familiar with as a good rule of thumb.

We also believe that certain events are objectively better than others if you want to bet on the Olympics online. Before we look at them, it’s time for a quick disclaimer. We focus on summer events here and cover the winter sports separately later in this Olympics betting guide.

Athletics

• Introduced: 1896
• Events: 47
• Most Successful Country: United States
• Most Successful Athlete: Paavo Nurmi (Finland)

You should definitely consider athletics when it comes to online Olympics betting. A large number of events means many chances to make some money and there’s more than enough free information you can use to prepare.

You should certainly keep an eye on the US Olympic trials when it comes to betting on this sport because American athletes have dominated most disciplines.

Basketball

• Introduced: 1904
• Events: 4
• Most Successful Country: United States
• Highest Points Scorer: Oscar Schmidt

Team USA has been extremely dominant in Olympic basketball in both men’s and women’s tournaments. However, various countries have tried to challenge the American squads and some have succeeded.

We picked basketball as one of the best events for online Olympic betting because of the large number of games during the tournament and the sport’s popularity. You probably know most of the big stars if you watch the NBA and that makes it easier to prepare.

Of course, you should look outside of the NBA, too. There are excellent players in Europe that often play a key role at the Olympics.

Some online sportsbooks will generate odds with ­alternate spreads. For example, let’s say you’re aiming to back Argentina in a particular contest where they’re listed at -5 and odds of -110. You may also have the option to bet on Argentina -10 at +350. Keep an eye out on the odds for quarters, halves, and team totals.

Once the 12-team field is set about a month before the Olympic Games get underway, Olympics basketball odds are released for the futures markets.

Swimming

• Introduced: 1896
• Events: 34
• Most Successful Country: United States
• Most Successful Athlete: Michael Phelps (USA)

Another excellent sport for betting is swimming. It features several disciplines, including individual ones and relays, for both men and women.

Swimming has been part of the Olympics ever since the modern games started and the United States are once again the most dominant force. There are also plenty of other countries with traditions in swimming.

If you decide to bet on the sport, you should always consider the fact that success at the Olympics is the dream of all athletes and they schedule their preparation with the goal of peaking at the games.

Tennis

• Introduced: 1896
• Events: 5
• Most Successful Country: United States
• Most Successful Athlete: Reginald Doherty (Great Britain)

Tennis is one of the few sports in which the Olympic tournament is not the most important one on the calendar. That makes it interesting from a betting perspective because it opens the door to surprising results.

The athletes who are more motivated to represent their country usually have the upper hand, especially if they are playing at home.

Another reason to pick tennis for Olympics sports betting is the significant number of matches throughout the tournament.

Here are the most popular tennis betting markets.

Boxing

• Introduced: 1904
• Events: 13
• Most Successful Country: United States
• Most Successful Athlete: Felix Savon, Teófilo Stevenson (Cuba) Laszlo Papp (Hungary)

There are major differences between amateur and pro boxing, so you should be careful if you decide to check the Olympic betting lines for this sport.

The fights are way shorter, the scoring is different, and the fighters are better protected as a whole. The good news is that the tournament in each category takes place over the course of several days, so you can watch every boxer in action and bet based on your impressions.

Here are some of the best Olympics boxing betting markets:

The best Olympics boxing betting markets for most bettors are on individual matches. The main markets tend to focus on most of what you would expect from a regular fight.

You shouldn’t automatically exclude other sports, of course. Any event that you know a bit about is an option. If you don’t have anything specific you wish to bet on, most Olympics betting sites also offer the following.

The top sportsbooks online offer Olympics odds on all of these, as well as other events from the games.

The main focus of the page and all the tips for betting on the Olympic Games so far have been focused on the summer edition of the games. They are more popular and include more sports, but the Winter Olympics are also worth your attention.

The Winter Games stages 109 different events across these 15 disciplines and sports:

The Paralympic Games started as a small event for World War II veterans in the middle of the 20^th century.

More than 60 years later, it features thousands of athletes with disabilities from all over the globe.

The event is held in parallel to the Olympics and features both summer and winter editions. The prize pools and the number of contestants are growing constantly.

Most sites that offer the opportunity to bet on the Olympics for real money cover the Paralympics, too. The number of markets is somewhat limited, but you can still gamble on the bigger events.

Learning how and where to bet on the Olympics online is only part of the equation if you want to make money.

You have to prepare properly to find profitable opportunities and we have several Olympic betting tips that can help you achieve that.

The first thing you should do is try to evaluate how important the Olympics Games are for the sport you are about to bet on.

In most cases, it’s the most important trophy there is. But there are exceptions, such as the following.

When you’re betting on such sports, you should always consider the motivation of the teams and players involved. The ones who care the most usually have the upper hand.

The other option would be to bet real money on Olympics sports in which all contestants have been preparing for the event for most of their lives. When that’s the case, you should expect the best efforts from every single participant.

We recommend betting on popular sports that get plenty of coverage. If you choose to gamble on mainstream Olympic sports, there will be tons of information to help you. Looking at the recent form of athletes and gauging how they will fare when the Games begin can help you make winning Olympics predictions.

For example, athletics events like sprints and relays are far more popular than new Olympic sports such as climbing and surfing. That means it’s a lot easier to research sprinters and predict how the races will pan out.

A lot of people are focused on only one sport at the Olympics. That’s a mistake. The top sportsbooks on the internet cover many different options and they even have Olympics prop bets including the following.

The online betting sites have become very creative nowadays and you should always pay attention to what they’re offering. Even markets that look completely wild could provide a good chance to win money.

When trying to determine where to bet on the Olympic Games online, make sure you pick a bookmaker that offers generous bonuses and promotions.

At the very minimum, the regular deals of the sportsbook should be available for the event. Ideally, there will also be exclusive promotions.

Even the best Olympics betting strategy will benefit from additional funds such as welcome bonuses, loyalty programs, free wagers, and other promos.

Home advantage is crucial in every sport and the Olympics are no exception. All athletes from the host nations are desperate to win and they have the support of the crowd.

Furthermore, many sports receive government funds, and the host countries in particular often invest heavily in the athletes representing them.

Let’s see how each of the last five host nations did in their home games compared to the edition prior to that.

Every single nation won more medals in total and more gold medals on home turf. That’s not a coincidence and you should be careful when betting on sports where a local team or athlete is among the favorites.

You should always analyze previous results when betting on the Olympics, especially when it comes to sports that are time trials or based on a certain scoring system.

The likes of swimming, athletics, rowing, and many others are like that. The best way to prepare for them is to try and figure out what to expect from each contestant based on previous records.

You should be careful, though, and make sure you pick the right data. Personal records are a good starting point, but they might be misleading depending on the athlete’s age.

Younger participants could improve at the Olympics, while veterans could very well underperform compared to achievements at their peak level from the past. That’s why personal bests for the year leading into the Olympics should be considered, too.

There are plenty of obvious similarities when it comes to gambling on team sports and individual sports. But there are some notable differences, too. Team sports rely on more than one athlete, meaning teams can win events without every member playing to the best of their ability.

Even if a team’s star player doesn’t live up to expectations, their teammates could still get the job done.

By contrast, betting on individual sports can be riskier. An athlete could suffer an injury midway through an event, forcing them to retire early, handing the win to their opponent.

That said, individual sports can often be easier to predict than team sports. A team is only as strong as its weakest link, while there is far less to take into consideration when only one athlete is concerned. Either way, if you’re thinking about betting on a specific Olympic event, we highly recommend researching all the athletes before parting ways with your cash.

Here are some things to look for.

Some of you probably found this page asking looking for an answer to the question, “Can you bet on the Olympics?”

You know you can at this point and we have delivered a bunch of tips that should help you make better betting decisions. The rest is up to you, of course, but we have several more useful resources that you should explore. Most of these can directly help with your Olympics betting, some are just interesting and worth looking at.