Eurovision Offers, Bonuses & Free Bets
You either love the Eurovision Song Contest or hate it. Some just laugh at it especially if being paid by the BBC to commentate on it.
The Eurovision Song Contest is a yearly competition that takes place in May. The first contest took place in 1956 and to take part you need to be a member of the European Broadcasting Union. The initial idea of the contest was to rebuild bridges after the Second World War.
What Eurovision bets can I place?
There are plenty of opportunities to use free bets when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest especially as there are now two semi-finals. There's betting available on who will win those and who will qualify. When it comes to the final, you can bet on outright winners, a top 5 or top 10 finish. Also available is match betting between various nations, whether any country will receive the legendary null points, whether the winner will come from Eastern or Western Europe and how high the UK entry will finish.
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In 2015 Australia were invited to take place to celebrate the fact this is the 60th contest. This was due to be a one-off invitation but such was the popularity of their debut they are now set to be a permanent fixture.
Viewing figures for the Eurovision Song Contest are over 100 million and it's also possible to watch the contest live on the internet.
When the Eurovision Song Contest first took place there were just seven competing countries with each nation submitting two songs. This has grown over the years especially since the break-up of the Soviet Union. The highest numbers of competitors was 43 in both 2008 and 2011. With so many countries competing it was decided to introduce two semi-finals. These take place earlier in the week with the Final taking place on the following Saturday.
France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK gain automatic entry into the Final plus the host nation.
The contest is hosted by the winning country from the previous year. This isn't always a popular occurrence as it's an expensive event to stage.
The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival in Italy and was something of a live television test, as it was still the early days of TV and hooking all the countries up to the same network was risky.
The name "Eurovision" had previously been used by British journalist George Campey in the London Evening Standard in 1951 in relation to the EBU's network - and later stuck as a name for the contest.
2023 Eurovision Song Contest
This year sees the return of the Eurovision Song Contest to the UK. The competition takes place at the Liverpool Arena with two semi-finals on May 9 and 11 followed by the final on May 13. It's customary for the winner of the previous year's contest to host the following year. 2022 saw Ukraine win but due to the ongoing situation in that country they are unable to host it this year. The UK came second last year with Sam Ryder and are the hosts for 2023.
After the semi-finals there are 26 countries taking part in the final on May 13. Opening the show will be Austria with the song 'Who the Hell is Edgar?' sung by Teya and Salena. Ukraine will be represented this year by Tvorchi who will be singing 'Heart of Steel.' Will we see another big vote for them? There's a long wait for the UK entry as they appear last of all. 25 songs (or something vaguely sounding like songs) will have been peformed before Mae Muller steps onto the stage to sing 'I Wrote a Song.
Previous winners
There have been some notable winners of the Eurovision Song Contest. These include:
- 1974: Abba
- 1980 and 1987: Johnny Logan
- 1981: Bucks Fizz
- 1988: Celine Dion
It's not been a great time for Salvador Sobrai since his big win this year and recently he announced he's taking a break from his musical career due to ill health and recently performed a farewell concert.
Most Eurovision Wins
- 7 - Ireland (but none since 1996)
- 6 - Sweden
- 5 - France (last won in 1977), United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Netherlands
United Kingdom Past Glories
The United Kingdom used to enjoy a great deal of success with a record 15 runner-up places. They first won the contest in 1967 with Sandie Shaw. Lulu was one of four joint winners two years later. The Brotherhood of Man won in 1976 with 'Save All Your Kisses For Me' and Bucks Fizz with 'Making Your Mind up' in 1981. The last UK Winners were Katrina and the Waves in 1997.
In the first 30 years of the contest the UK only failed to make the top ten once and even then they finished 11th. However of their last 13 entries only once have they made the top ten. In 2003 Jemini finished last with 0 points who sang off key claiing they couldn't hear the backing track. On three other occasions the UK finished 25th. Last year Electro Velvet came 24th scoring just five points. In 2016 UK hopes were in the hands of Joe & Jake who finished a lowly 24th but Lucie Jones performed better in 2017 finishing 15th. 2018 saw Surie finish 24th. 2022 saw the UK get their best result in years. Sam Ryder finished second and probably would have won but for the many who voted for Ukraine for obvious reasons that had little to do with the quality of their song.