Skiing is an increasingly popular sport, as more and more people across the world can see it on TV or find the latest information online.
Yet, you might wonder whether it’s possible to wager on skiing like you can with other sports.
The Effect of Online Sportsbooks
To understand how we can bet on skiing, we need to consider the effect of online sportsbooks becoming easier to find and use in recent years. These are gambling platforms where you can place bets on many different sports without leaving home.
When you enter any online sports betting site, you’ll initially see some of the key sports aimed at bettors in your country. This is why Americans typically see football and basketball on the home page, while British visitors are offered the likes of soccer and cricket. Among the features prominently displayed is the option for betting cash out, allowing users to secure profits or minimize losses before the conclusion of an event, adding an extra layer of flexibility to their betting experience.
Look for the list of sports and you’ll see more options, but you may have to find the tab that says “all sports” or something similar to find skiing and others considered niche sports. Handball, table tennis, and volleyball are typically included here.
You might not see skiing listed, but in this case, there’s likely to be a winter sports category. You can check it here, although it is seasonal and depends on events:
Here, you’ll find downhill skiing listed alongside other events like ski flying or jumping, snowboarding, and so on in popular locations like Vaujany or Alpe D’Huez.
This category is generally more popular during major events such as the Winter Olympics, but since skiing is carried out in different parts of the world, you can find interesting events during most of the year.
What Events Can You Bet On?
Expect to find any major skiing event available for online betting. For example, at the time of writing, the Men’s Ski Flying World Cup in July is listed. We can also see the Men’s Four Hill events in the same month. Raw Air 2023 is listed right now too.
There are fewer events to bet on than in other sports, like basketball and baseball, where many different teams are involved in numerous games during their respective seasons. Because of this, you’re more likely to see future events listed.
Naturally, the odds are more difficult to calculate far in advance, as a lot of things can change in terms of form and fitness over a period of weeks and months. Since it’s more difficult to predict who will win, the odds are generally longer when you bet in advance like this.
The Types of Bets
Online sportsbooks now offer a wide variety of bet types in some sports, meaning that you can typically wager on different aspects of a game or season. You’ll also see live betting opportunities, where you can bet as the action takes place. This means that many bettors join the site during a game, to see how the odds swing.
Skiing is a little different, as we’ve already seen that the majority of bets are likely to be placed in advance. This means that the most common bets are placed directly on the outright winner of an event.
If you follow the latest news from the world of skiing, you should have all of the information needed to place a bet with confidence. Otherwise, you might decide to carry out some research on the competitors and the conditions before going any further. Keep your eye on the news that come off popular winter sport destinations, like Vaujany or Alpe D’Huez.
Some Examples of Odds
If we look ahead to the Men’s Ski Flying World Cup 2022/233, we can see that the favourite at the time of writing is Marius Lindvik, at +350. The Swedish jumper is in good form, having won a gold medal in the large hill event at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. A $10 bet on Lindvik at these odds would give you a $35 return if he were to win the event.
In second place, we can see Stefan Kraft, at +400. The Austrian jumper has been one of the most successful athletes in this sport in recent years, and is the world record holder thanks to his incredible leap of 832 feet in 2017. A $10 bet on Kraft would return $40 in winnings.
As we look further down the field, we can see the likes of Timi Zajc at +500 and Ryoyu Kobayashi at +700 among the favourites. With a couple of months to go before the event takes place, we can expect to see the price shift before then.
In terms of the outsiders for this event, the longest price is currently a massive +30000, which can be found on Daniel Tschofenig. At slightly lower odds are competitors like Constantin Schmid, Andreas Wellinger, and Manuel Fettner.
The arrival of online sports betting sites has made it easier for skiing fans to place wagers on this sport. It may also lead to more sports fans taking an interest in the sport, as it becomes visible and the attractive odds encourage them to take a closer look.
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