How to bet on Eurovision and never loose...

Seriously - and you don't need to give me any money to find out!

The smart Eurovision watcher can usually listen to a song and have a rough idea if it’s going to be a hit or a miss. Having a portfolio of £5 bets on songs to win, while the odds are longer, increases your chances of winning something, while exposing you to a little bit more loss. If you can manage to ensure that a win for any of the songs covers the lost bets on the other song, then you’re on your way to paying for the cost of your travel to Düsseldorf.
You don’t need to restrict yourself to a win either, as the “each-way” option will allow you to win if a song places in the top three or four at Eurovision. Generally you’ll get a smaller amount if the song wins, but you also make a small profit if they come second, third or fourth. Check with the bookmakers how many places down the list an each-way bet will cover, and also how much you’ll make.

So far this is all a bit of fun, with a dash of risk… there’s still the chance an outlier of a song is going to pick up votes on the night. It would be rather foolish to bet on up to forty countries in the hope the one winner covers the losses. That’s how to not loose money, but if you’re like me, you want to win.

As well as betting that a song will win the Contest, at many bookmakers you can bet that a song will not win Eurovision. This is the second style of betting on the contest. Generally referred to as laying a bet, it’s the key to a profitable night on May 14th. Because if you manage it correctly there is nothing to stop you betting on the same song to win and loose the Contest.

Played smartly, you can get yourself into a position where no matter what happens, you will always win enough to cover all the bets. I've went into this in more detail over on Eurovision Insight.