Sports Betting: The 2018 Winter Olympics from South Korea

PyeongChang 2018 is in full swing and 2,920 of the world's best athletes have descended upon South Korea to compete for the most coveted award in their field of excellence. This year's Olympic Games began on February 9th, and, will go on until February 25, with 102 events over 7 sports (a total of 15 disciplines).  Alpine skiing, the Biathlon, the Bobsleigh, Cross-country skiing, 
Curling, Figure skating, Freestyle skiing, Ice hockey, Luge, Nordic combined, Short track speed skating, Skeleton, Ski jumping, Snowboarding, and Speedskating. 

For those that have been following PyeongChang 2018, you will have already noticed that team Russia, a major competitor in the games is not present. After severe doping scandals, the Olympic Committee decided to ban Russia from the Olympics, which has opened the field to a number of countries for possible medals. Another central story of the games has been steps towards peace between North and South Korea, as they marched together holding the Korean Unification Flag in the opening ceremonies, and, they have a Unified Korean Women's hockey team competing together. 

Medal Count

With the games already three days down there has already been a number of medals handed out. At the time of this article, Norway was in the lead with a total of 8 medals, including 1-gold, 4-silver, and 3-bronze. The Canadians were in second place with 6, followed by the Netherlands with 5, while Germany and the US have 4. 

We have already seen a number of Olympic Records being broked in South Korea. In Speed Skating there have been 5 records smashed including the Women's 500 meters, Men's 1500, and the Women's 3000 relays. The potential to see Olympic Records and World Records broken is one of the biggest reasons to watch the Olympic Games. Just think, once every 4 years we have the opportunity to binge watch winter sports that we would probably never ever watch if not for the Olympics (minus the hockey), but for a few weeks, sports like figure skating and curling become the hottest ticket on ice. 

Can You Bet on the Olympics?

The Olympics is also a time for punters around the world to test their winter sport betting skills. 888 Sport, and, Betfair Sports are two of the most recognizable and reliable online bookmakers in the industry and they are offering thousands of daily markets just for the Games. 

Take the hockey for an example. In addition to the game props like the outright winner, over/under, total goals and other bets, 888 Sport is offering competitive odds on each countries chances at winning the gold. The Canadian men are the favorites at 5.50 to win the gold, 4.25 for silver, 4.00 for bronze, and 4.40 for fourth place.  

At Betfair Sports, this is much of the same but each will have its own odds to choose from.