2010 EUROVISION BETTING ODDS SHOW AZERBAIJAN AND ISRAEL AS TOP FAVOURITES

It's that time of year again, when punters start piling on bets for an international singing competition- but this is more about bragging rights and national booster-ism than it is about a proper sing-off. Norway effectively went gate-to-wire last year by emerging as the stand-out favourite early on in the competition and then following through to win Eurovision 2009 with a dominating performance by Alexander Rybak. 

This year, the odds on Betfair have finally started to take shape and we have enough volume and bets matched to actually be able to decipher where things are going to go. Azerbaijan are being represented by the talented 17 year-old Safura Alizade and she is, clearly, the betting favourite to win the Eurovision 2010 competition. At this point last year, Rybak had already been established as the likely winner and he managed to follow through- it appears as though Alizade is trading just above the 5.0 mark with the punters on Betfair. She is 1.8 to finish within the top 4. 

The closest competitor to Alizade is Israel's Harel Skaat, who has been a fixture on the national singing scene for quite some time, and you'll find him trading at around 6.6 on the open market at Betfair. He is a genuine contender and is paying 2.5 to finish in the top 4- I consider that to be an excellent betting opportunity and one that should be pounced on as I simply cannot see that price dropping any more. 

At the moment, there appears to only be a handful of other possible contendes unless a long-shot upstart emerges prior to the competition. Norway's Didrik Solli-Tangen is trading at 12.5 to pull off a second Eurovision victory on the bounce for his country while Armenia can be backed at a 13.5 price for their entrant Eva Rias.

Germany are very strong Eurovision contenders this time out and they are priced at 14.0 to win the competition and I think that the country's large sphere of influence, as well as the large voting block within the country itself, gives it a lot of sway over how things unfold. I think that Lena Meyer-Landrut is a great bet at 4.1 to finish top 4. 

Serbia round out my list of possible contenders with a 14.5 listing on Betfair for their candidate Milan Stankovic. 

Greece are listed at 18.5, Denmark are at 15.5 while Sweden are at 25.0. The UK's price to win the 2010 Eurovision Competition is a whopping 140.0, so be sure to stay tuned to take advantage of any price drops over the next few weeks!