The Winter Olympics, being held in Italy for the fourth time, is upon us, with iGaming on a packed sporting schedule unlikely to be frozen by the contentious presence of U.S. ICE immigration officials.
Why the United States, led by their injured downhill skiing legend, Lindsey Vonn–the holder of one gold and two bronze Olympic medals–, thought it necessary to bring immigration agents to a sporting event being held in Europe is beyond most people’s ken, but betting is firm across most metrics, report all the top operators.
While the 2026 Games, the 25th Winter Olympics, formally opens this Friday in Milano Cortina in northern Italy, and will run until the 22nd; practice sessions, involving curlers and skiers, began today.
Norway Favourites
In keeping with their recent record of “winning” the last three Winter Games, Norway are being posted as firm favourites to bag the most gold medals, Paddy Power, for example, citing them at odds of 8/15, or a 65 percent chance.
The Scandinavians are followed by the U.S. at 7/2; Germany, 11/2; Canada, 14/1; Switzerland, 25/1 and host nation Italy at 40/1.
Apart from the contentious presence of ICE, the Games have been awash with pre-tournament stories and gossip, involving cheating claims of Norwegian ski jumpers and Vonn’s headline grabbing downhill crash last week, which threatened to put her out of competition at the ripe old age of 40.
But Vonn, “America’s Winter Princess”, has decided to forge forward despite carrying an ACL or Anterior Cruciate Ligament rupture: Ouch!
Unlike bigger betting markets, such as the upcoming Super Bowl (this Sunday) and FIFA World Cup (kick-off, June 11), it’s near-impossible to find accurate figures to find out how much money will be wagered on the olympiad.
Betting Brisk
But betting is brisk, and by the end of the Games should top at least US$1 billion around the world.
Ice hockey remains the biggest focus of gambling action in the U.S. and Canada; while for the British, who normally place way down the medal lists, most attention is on curling, the skeleton and snow boarding; where they have some chance of medalling.
The Winter Olympics, with its opening ceremony in the famous San Siro football stadium in Milan, will run until February 22.
Sports will be contested across multiple locations: Hockey and skating in Milan; women’s alpine skiing, curling and bobsleigh in Cortina d’Ampezzo, men’s alpine skiing in Bormio and cross-country skiing and ski jumping in Val di Fiemme, for example.
Ice Hockey, Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating, Cross-Country and Biathlon, it’s all there.
Individual and pairs competitions, team events, futures bets, moneylines, point spread, props, parlays, live, in-play.
Go careful. And don’t trip up on ICE.
