USA has hosted the Winter Olympics twice before. This is our guide to betting on this huge sporting event.
Here’s what is in store for you on this page:
Pick one of our recommended best Winter Olympics betting sites to join
Locate the ‘sign up’ button that should be displayed prominently on the homepage
Fill in the registration form with your personal details and information
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Sometimes setting a username is optional, but you will always be required to create a password or pin code for access
If you have a promo code that needs quoting to receive a welcome bonus, now is the time to enter it when prompted
Agree to sportsbook terms and conditions, and don’t forget to verify your age
To get you started with Winter Olympics betting in USA, here are some key facts about it:
After the success of re-establishing the Summer Olympics, a Winter version was thought up and first held in 1924
Only sports that are played on snow or ice can be part of the Winter Olympics
USA, as noted above, has twice hosted the Winter Olympics. Calgary in Alberta was chosen in 1988 and Vancouver in British Columbia for the 2010 Games
Until 1992, the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year at four-year intervals
In order to space out Olympic events more, the Winter Games were moved to two years through a Summer cycle starting in 1994
The United States is the only nation to have hosted four different Winter Olympics
Sports can be added or removed from the Winter Olympics calendar as per the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selection policy
You may be wondering how Winter Olympics odds work. It’s all quite simple really. Popular sports (more on those below) will be priced up on betting sites, so let’s work through an example:
USA are playing the United States at ice hockey. Not all that surprising, given both countries have representation in the NHL.
In this instance, USA are favourites in the betting to win as their price is smaller. For every C$10 wagered on them, they yield C$11 of profit which is a return of C$21.
The United States, meanwhile, are betting underdogs. For every C$4 staked on them, the return is C$11 - C$7 of which is profit.
That’s simple enough. Ties can also occur, but at the Winter Olympics an ice hockey match may need to have a winner if it’s for a Gold medal.
The American moneyline system is also popular and another alternative way of expressing odds is to use fractions. We went with decimal prices in this example, because they too are common. For more on comparing odds types, see our calculator.
These are some of the most popular sports you can bet on at the Winter Olympics:
As noted above, Olympic ice hockey is a very popular sport for Winter
Olympics betting in USA. You can bet on individual match winners or who will win the Gold medal?
Points spread and total goals markets are also available on ice hockey as standard. Remember, futures
betting sits side by side with wagers like these.
Futures betting should be available on which individual or couple will win gold in their respective disciplines.
Curling is a team sport where stones are slid across a sheet of ice. Brooms are
used to sweep the ice in front of a stone into a target made of concentric circles.
Although
a somewhat niche sport, curling is curiously exciting and futures betting should be available on
the competing countries.
The Winter Olympics doesn’t get more traditional than this. There are many different types of skiing discipline and betting exists on alpine, cross-country and Nordic combined events.
Skateboarding on ice is more or less the name of the game with snowboarding. There are parallel, half-pipe, cross and slopestyle events for you to bet on.
Combining cross-country skiing and rifle shooting sounds like something out of an
old James Bond film. The biathlon is a very popular Winter Olympics event, though, and there are many
different versions of it.
Sprints, pursuits, relays and mass starts are all held alongside
individual disciplines. Biathlon betting is surprisingly lively during the Winter Games.
When it comes to ski jumping, there’s the normal hill and the large hill. The
further you jump, the more points you get. Jumpers compete as individuals and as a team for their
country.
Wind assistance can have a huge hand in this sport, and that’s always something to
think about when betting on it.
Like the luge, hurtling downhill in a bobsleigh or skeleton can give the sportsmen
and women who do it a real adrenaline rush. Crews can be up to and including four people. The aim is
to make yourself or collectively as streamline as possible.
Whichever individual or crew makes
it down the course fastest wins. You should find plenty of skeleton and bobsleigh betting during the
Winter Olympics.
One thing you should definitely getting when engaging with Winter Olympics betting are bonuses. Broadly speaking, there are three different types available to you:
One of the major developments in gambling of recent times is the advent of mobile betting. What are the benefits of placing wagers through your smartphone?
These locations have all either hosted or are set to host the Winter Olympics:
Chamonix, France
St Moritz, Switzerland
Lake Placid, New York, United States
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
St Moritz, Switzerland
Oslo, Norway
Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
Squaw Valley, California, United States
Innsbruck, Austria
Grenoble, France
Sapporo, Japan
Innsbruck, Austria
Lake Placid, New York, United States
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (then Yugoslavia)
Calgary, Alberta, USA
Albertville, France
Lillehammer, Norway
Nagano, Japan
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Turin, Italy
Vancouver, British Columbia, USA
Sochi, Russia
PyeongChang, South Korea
Beijing, China
We hope this Winter Olympics betting guide has been helpful. As one of the great sporting events held every four years, it’s often well worth the wait to watch.
Should you need any more Winter Olympics betting advice, then our FAQs section below has answers to common queries.
Interested in the Summer Olympics? Then read our comprehensive Summer Olympics 2021 betting guide.
Winter Olympics betting in USA is just the same as everywhere else. Select the sport you want to bet on during the Games, then add the bet you want to place to your slip. Now enter your stake and confirm your wager.
We shortlist only the very best Winter Olympics betting sites on this page, so you can rely on our experts to narrow down the choice.
Yes, mobile Winter Olympics betting is available to Apple and Android users through sportsbook apps. If you haven’t downloaded that from the betting site you use, then they will also have a mobile version of their product for web browsers.
These sports in particular are popular for Winter Olympics betting:
You bet. Gambling on both the Summer and Winter Olympics is completely legal in USA.
Certain Winter Olympics sports, notably ice hockey, feature live betting opportunities. This means sportsbook traders price up odds while matches are in-play reacting to what’s happening.
