For the real fans, the Eurovision Song Contest started this week. All countries have traveled to Mälmo in Sweden for the first rehearsals. Last Wednesday, Joost Klein was able to give a glimpse of the veil. With the bookmakers he then dropped from place 3 to place 5. “It could still go either way,” says Eurovision reporter Lonneke Haverman.
1. Who are the bookmakers?
Betting on the outcome of a football match, or on the name of the ‘royal baby’: you’ve probably heard about that before. It’s exactly the same as the Eurovision Song Contest. You bet money on the country that you think will win. You do this at an online betting office, a so-called bookmaker.
The bookmakers then keep track of which country is most often chosen as the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. This country will then be number one.
Just before 7am this morning the list looked like this:
2. How reliable are the bookmakers?
According to Lonneke Haverman, bookmakers are ‘reasonably good at predicting’. “They are usually not far off. The top 3 is often correct, but the difference between the top 3 countries is much smaller this year than in previous years.”
In 2019, Duncan Laurence participated on behalf of the Netherlands and during the rehearsals he was at the top with a good chance of winning compared to number 2. This was also the case last year with the Swedish singer Loreen. “If you look at this year, you see that Switzerland is currently the top contender for victory according to the bookmakers, but the difference is only 3 percent with number 2, Croatia.”
3. Joost Klein has dropped to fifth place, should we be concerned?
Joost Klein (26) played for the first time in Malmö last Wednesday. In the Malmö Arena he was given half an hour to practice his song ‘Europapa’ and the accompanying act. The rehearsal was behind closed doors, but the Eurovision Song Contest organization distributed some images on social media afterwards. Upon his departure from Schiphol, Klein previously said that he regrets that some things are no longer a surprise. “You’re not going to film a magician’s rehearsals, are you?”
After his rehearsal he dropped from third place to fifth place. But, says Haverman, that is no reason for unrest. “Only some photos and a short video have now been released. It wouldn’t surprise me if he does something completely different. And we know that Joost Klein is not the best singer at the festival, but for him it’s all about the whole package and we have now only seen a very small part of it.”
Haverman continues: “Next Wednesday is Joost Klein’s first rehearsal, attended by domestic and foreign press. That will be the first time that journalists will see what his act ultimately looks like on TV. Then the list can be submitted to the bookmakers. look different again.”
Tags: Europapa losing slightly Eurovision Song Contest bookmakers RTL News
