When you think of the Super Bowl wagering, you often think of all the prop bets that surround the big game, with everything from the coin toss to the number of yards gained on the first play from scrimmage up for your wagering consideration. There are few other sporting events that allow you to play that many different prop bets, but the Olympic Games are a glorious exception. As well as being able to bet on each of the individual events, there are also a host of wagers available that are incredibly fun to get involved in. The list of prop bets available for the Olympic Games is endless, so let’s take a look at a few of the more popular Olympic betting picks.
Take a Look a the Rio 2016 Top Betting Props
.@TeamUSA holds the lead with 19 medals at the Rio #Olympics pic.twitter.com/BvGs5vq1GM
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) August 9, 2016
Team Medal Counts
There are a few different ways that you can go here, and it all starts with wagering on which country will come away with the most medals when all is said and done. This is usually a battle between the USA and China, so it may be better to look at the betting odds for each country individually. At the start of the games, the USA had an OVER/UNDER of 42.5 gold medals. They have only managed to cross that mark once in the past 5 Olympic Games, making the UNDER look like a solid bet there.
Individual Medal Counts
Perhaps the biggest individual performance prop bet heading into the Rio games was centered on Michael Phelps. The US swimmer came into these Olympics with 22 medals to his name, and he has already added another one in one of the relay events. How high will his medal count go by the time these games are over, and will he be able to add to the 19 gold medals that he has after winning that earlier event?
Individual Achievements
Outside of Phelps, you are probably looking at soccer as the best place to wager on individual achievements, most notably in the top scoring department. Coming in, it looked as though Neymar would be the man to beat, but Brazil have yet to score a goal through their first two games of the tournament. On the men’s side, the smart money is now on Oghenekaro Etebo of Nigeria, as the midfielder bagged 4 goals for his country in their opening game.
On the women’s side, you have to look at Carli Lloyd of the US, as she has scored in both games played so far. You should also be keeping an eye on Marta and Christiane, who is the all-time top scorer in Olympic Games, of Brazil, as well as Janine Beckie of Canada.
Broken Records
Every Olympic Games sees records fall by the wayside, but how many are going to be broken in Rio? That is something that is most certainly open to wagering, and we are likely going to see the most records topple during the second week of the Games, which is when the track and field events get underway.
