Hello everyone and welcome to another Eurovision article on The Blogging DJ. There is less than two weeks until the first semi-final of the 2019 edition of the contest, with first rehearsals starting on Saturday. Therefore, it is the perfect time to look at the odds, before fans and pundits get a true indication of the strength of the entry in a live setting. Courtesy of Oddschecker, here is the current table of odds, as of the 2nd of May 2019, from some of the biggest bookmakers across Europe.
Scenario 1: Winning the Contest
At the moment, all indications point to a runaway victory for Duncan Laurence and “Arcade”, with Sergey Lazarev his only real challenger for success. Pre-contest favourites typically do very well in the overall results, with last year’s victor Netta ahead in the odds from early on. However, Jamala came from 3rd or 4th on the night to claim victory for Ukraine in 2017, and it took until the brilliant semi-final performance for Conchita Wurst to jump from the teen positions into one of the top places in the odds, so it’ll all depend on how the live staging comes across. We will perhaps discover from the odds after the first rehearsals to see whether the Netherlands will romp home with the trophy. However, I expect one of either Iceland/Greece/Cyprus to launch up, in a similar way to Eleni from Cyprus last year.
Scenario 2: Semi-Final One (Winner)
On the surface, it appears that the top ten to progress into the Grand Final are already looking secure, as there is a big gap in odds between the tenth and eleventh placed song. However, there is not a market for songs to qualify from the semi-finals on this site. It is worth considering that, on top of delegations not revealing what their live performances will entail, is that this is also based on the country’s general success in Eurovision. Therefore, it might be worth putting a punt on San Marino reaching the Grand Final when that market becomes available, as they are performing last in the semi-final and have a cheesy yet fun song. Other than that, and perhaps Poland surprising with their live show, the rest of the top ten look pretty safe, with the winner most likely to come from that trio of Iceland, Cyprus and Greece.
Scenario 3: Semi-Final Two (Winner)
As with the semi-final one odds, this market appears to be heavily influenced by who is tipped to win the whole contest, with the Netherlands, Russia and Switzerland at the top. However, there are a couple of interesting suggestions from looking at these, one being that North Macedonia (previously FYR Macedonia) are looking good to qualify for their first Grand Final since 2012. There is again a big gap to the lower couple of places in the top ten, with several countries around who could qualify. I still think one of either Romania and Moldova could have a chance of getting through, due to the high number of points they typically give each other, which could be the difference.
What do you make of the odds for Eurovision 2019? Do you think these will reflect the final results or can an underdog take the crown? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see you soon for more Eurovision preview articles on The Blogging DJ.
The Blogging DJ 
I can’t wait for the reports fromt he rehearsals when things will become clearer. Much is decided by the voting audience of the night, many of whom don’t follow the pre-contest hype but come home from their day and happen upon the contest, eatch and vote. A good or bad performance can change everything.
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