Eurovision – Update. The Semi-Finals were a revelation. All 10 countries that were voted into the finals were all countries that were under the influence of the old Soviet Union, with the slight exception of Turkey. Geographically they were all Eastern European, with the exception of Latvia, a former member of the old U.S.S.R.. There is a pattern here…..West is West but East is Best. All the countries involved in this years Eurovision are entitled to vote in the final, including those who voted in the Semi Finals on Thursday night. While we may see some shift away from the Eastern Block as the western European T.V. channels kick in for the final, I doubt that the pattern will change very much. The winner is not going to come from Western Europe. We are on Greece already, and while their dress rehearsals were not great, the Greeks are in strong Geo-Political position, very much in the ‘western’ E.U. , but also situated in eastern central Europe. The best of both worlds when it comes to picking up the votes. We are still in the game and the best price is now 33/1….great e/w value. Block voting is so very important for this competition, the song is reasonably important, but understanding the politics that is the key to finding some winning bets. VCBet have come up with an interesting market called ‘Non Eastern European Winner’. An 8 country market consisting of the ‘Western European’ nations along with Finland, Sweden and Greece. Its odd that Greece are in this market, because they stick out like a sore thumb for not being ‘Western European’. They will pick up good points, probably max points from Cyprus, Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria and as their act is a London born Greek, the UK. That gives them a big head start over all of this group with the exception of Finland and Sweden. The Scandinavians vote for each other so Sweden and Finland will also do well. Finland will pick up lots of polite ‘thank you my host’ votes, not big points but plenty of small ones. The Swedish song is fancied by some and may get some musical merit votes, but nothing extraordinary. The odds on offer about these three market leaders are Sweden 4/6, plenty short enough and no value, Greece 5/2, not bad, and Finland 20/1. A good price for Finland who look a good bet to come third, I mean, the same price as the UK? Would anyone offer evens in a match up? Exactly. 2 points e/w Finland to win Non Eastern European Winner @20/1 with VCBet. won 6 points |
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