Not all countries have chosen their Eurovision participant. And not all countries have revealed their Eurovision song. But that hasn’t stopped bookies at Britain’s Betfair betting agency from making predictions about who will advance from the first semi-final at ESC 2012.
At the moment they have Denmark’s Soluna Samay (pictured above) and San Marino’s to-be-determined artist at the top of the list, with odds of 39/20 to win. This is rather interesting because San Marino has not yet declared an artist. Betting agencies frequently have insider information. But given that San Marino only has one neighbor that votes at Eurovision—Italy—and given that San Marino has never finished higgher than 16th in a semi-final, Wiwi is very skepitcal about this bet.
Other front-runners include Russia’s Buranovskiye Babushki, who are already a YouTube hit. And Greece’s Eleftheria Eleftheriou, who stormed to victory in a shopping mall on March 12.
These rankings do not align with the results of the Wiwi Jury, our in-house panel of music unprofessionals from America, Australia, Britain and Finland. For instance, our jury rates Cyprus’ Ivi Adamou well above Iceland’s Greta Salóme & Jónsi.
In any case, you can view the results from Betfair below. They are accurate as of 13 March 2012 at 20:30 GMT. What do you think? Is this premature and ridiculous? Or do you trust the bookies’ instincts?
Countries that will qualify for the final:
1. Denmark 39/20
1. San Marino 39/20
3. Russia 51/25
4. Greece 147/50
5. Ireland 361/100
6. Belgium 19/5
7. Iceland 43/10
8. Cyprus 24/5
8. Romania 24/5
10. Israel 67/10
Countries that will be eliminated:
11. Hungary 38/5
12. Albania 19/2
12. Finland 19/2
14. Moldova 21/2
15. Switzerland 21/2
16. Austria 62/5
17. Latvia 143/10
18. Montenegro 76/5
Update on March 14, 2012: Wiwi’s friends at 12Points.TV are reporting that Eurovision’s most prolific songwriter Ralph Siegel has written this year’s entry for San Marino. Siegel has written 19 songs for ESC—including “Ein Bißchen Frieden,” which won Eurovision for Germany in 1982. Sources say that Valentina Monetta will be representing San Marino. The bookies clearly have faith in the selection.
Either who ever came up with the odds knows something we don’t or (more than likely) he is smoking something he shouldn’t be.
Greece all the wayyy!!!
@Emma We’ve got one of the most surrealist years in the Contest history ahead of us.
Well, everybody knows what the deal with Russia, Sweden and Serbia is. And Greece. But having San Marino on the list just seems strange.
What can I say about Switzerland? They bore me. Rock for me is all or nothing, and Sinplus does nothing for me.
@ Nirgal– It’s not unusual for a country that hasn’t chosen yet to be in the odds–Sweden and Serbia have been at the top of the market for months, as had Russia, who, unlike the previous two, did not feel potential acts until very late. But for San Marino to be at the top of the market when they have never qualified for the final, seem to have one (1) voting ally–that is completely bizarre. Because everyone knew the Swedes were going to sen Loreen or Danny, both of whom had very strong songs, Serbia was sending Zeljko who is… Read more »
What? But… but… but… San Marino doesn’t have a song yet! How can they even BE in the odds?
I mean, watching the selection in this semi they have a pretty good chance if they send somethink as good as their previous two entries, but… HOW CAN THEY BE IN THE ODDS WITHOUT A SONG?
I’m hyperventilating.