Next month, the eyes of the sports universe will focus squarely on Paris, France as the 2024 Summer Olympics return to the city for the first time since 1924.
Over the course of a few short weeks, thousands of athletes will go for gold in 32 events. For many who will be watching the Paris Olympics, events like men’s and women’s basketball, tennis, swimming, track and field, and golf will garner the most attention.
Those sports will feature some of the most recognizable names that will be present in Paris, from NBA superstar LeBron James and the stacked U.S. men’s basketball team, record-breaking swimmer Katie Ledecky, sprinting sensation Sha’Carri Richardson, tennis legends Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and in men’s golf, 2024 PGA Championship winner and reigning Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele, as well as GOT (“Greatest of Today, not Game of Thrones) Scottie Scheffler.
Those sports will also garner significant sports betting attention. As a result, you can expect to see a bevy of Summer Olympics odds at sports betting sites like BetOnline and Bovada. And in the coming weeks, Betting News will have a wealth of content devoted to the festivities in the French capital, designed to help you learn more about the events and athletes to bet on and where to find the best bang for your betting buck whether it’s on the court, course, track, or pool.
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How and Where Can You Bet on the Olympics?
How to Bet on the Olympics
The Paris 2024 opening ceremony is on July 26, but sports betting sites like BetOnline already have a wide variety of Olympic betting markets.
Along with being able to bet on individual sports and events like men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s tennis, overall medal count betting and gold medal count betting are both available at BetOnline. Do you think the United States will finish with the most gold medals or the most overall medals? They are heavily favored to do both, coming in at -600 to win the most gold medals and -2000 to win the most overall medals.
As the action gets underway in Paris, even more Olympic betting options will become available. Every online sportsbook will not have the same options, so we encourage shopping around to see what your options are. For example, where one book may not have Olympic table tennis odds, another one might.
Best Betting Sites for the Olympics
As mentioned, BetOnline has a variety of Paris 2024 betting options on the board, and those options are only going to increase as the Olympics draws closer and then gets underway.
Do you have a BetOnline account already and want to diversify your options? While they are one of, if not the best Olympic betting sites, there are a lot of other quality options to choose from.
Below are our recommended Paris 2024 betting sites, with links to our sportsbook reviews for each site.
- BetOnline (review)
- BetUS (review)
- Betwhale (review)
- Bovada (review)
- Everygame (review0
Are you unfamiliar with any of the sites listed? Check out our reviews for each site to learn more about them. Our reviews cover available betting options, deposit and payout options, mobile betting, and bonuses and loyalty/VIP programs.
Many sportsbooks may be offering special sports betting bonuses and promos for the Olympics. For example, Betwhale has offered bonuses for recent events like the Copa America, NBA Finals, and March Madness and will likely have a Paris 2024 betting promo as well. To keep up with the latest and greatest betting bonuses and promos from Betwhale, BetOnline, and other sports betting sites, check out our sportsbook offers page.
What Are the Most Popular Olympic Sports?
The 2024 Olympics will feature breakdancing for the first time, while skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing, which made their debut in 2020, will also be a part of the program in Paris.
But what sports are likely to garner the most attention? Unsurprisingly, most of the sports in this group have the most household names and/or frequently have produced memorable performances and performers.
Basketball
Basketball is always one of the most popular events at the Summer Olympics.
The men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are one of the Olympic events that features professional athletes, so the best and brightest on the hardwood will be in action in Paris.
On the men’s side, that means that we’ll see the likes of LeBron James (USA), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama (France), Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), and potentially either Luka Doncic (Slovenia) or Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), who could face off for an Olympic berth in one of the qualifying tournaments.
Olympic Men’s Basketball Gold Medal Odds
- USA -450
- Canada +800
- Serbia +900
- France +1200
- Germany +2500
- Spain +2500
- Australia +3300
- Slovenia +5000
- Greece +5000
- Lithuania +6600
Everyone will be looking to dethrone the USA, who has won the last four gold medals and is favored to make it five in a row with a squad that features LeBron, Kevin Durant, new NBA champion Jayson Tatum, and 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid, who opted to play for the USA instead of France or his birth nation, Cameroon.
That tournament is expected to be more wide open than the women’s tournament, where the USA will be going for an eighth consecutive gold medal.
Olympic Women’s Basketball Gold Medal Odds
- USA -1250
- Australia +2000
- China +2000
- France +2500
- Belgium +2500
- Japan +2800
- Canada +3300
- Serbia +6600
Golf
In 2016, golf returned to the Olympics after not being part of the festivities since 1904.
In Rio, 2013 U.S. Open winner Justin Rose won the men’s individual gold medal, while seven-time LPGA major champion Inbee Park won the women’s individual gold medal.
In the Tokyo Olympics, it was an American sweep. Schauffele won the men’s individual gold medal, while Nelly Korda grabbed the gold in the women’s individual event.
Will Schauffele and Korda defend their titles at Paris 2024? This year’s Olympic golf tournament will take place at the Albatros course at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, which is located in the Paris suburbs.
Currently, BetOnline only has odds for the Olympic men’s golf tournament, but given that they regularly offer women’s golf odds, we should expect to see them have Olympic women’s golf odds up sometime within the next few weeks.
Men’s Golf Odds for the 2024 Olympics
- Scottie Scheffler (USA) +350
- Xander Schauffele (USA) +900
- Rory McIlroy (Ireland) +900
- Ludvig Aberg (Sweden) +1200
- Collin Morikawa (USA) +1200
- Viktor Hovland (Norway) +1600
- Jon Rahm (Spain) +2000
- Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) +2000
Swimming
Close finishes, upsets, and the prospect of records falling make swimming one of the most exciting and popular Olympic sports.
The biggest name in the pool in Paris will be American star Katie Ledecky, who will be participating in her fourth Olympics. Ledecky has seven gold medals and three silver medals and will be going for gold in four events, the 400-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle, and 1500-meter freestyle individual events, as well as the 4×200 freestyle relay.
Tennis
Since the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, the Olympic tennis events have featured top professional players.
Over the years, gold medal winners have included Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and the Williams sisters.
Nadal will be making his final Olympics appearance this year, playing both singles and doubles at his second home, Roland Garros, where he has won a record 14 French Open titles. Despite not being able to play many events recently, the 22-time Grand Slam singles champion is one of the favorites in men’s singles, along with compatriot and doubles partner Carlos Alcaraz, new world number one Jannik Sinner, and reigning gold medalist Alexander Zverev.
Olympic Men’s Tennis Gold Medal Odds
- Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) +125
- Jannik Sinner (Italy) +250
- Alexander Zverev (Germany) +450
- Rafael Nadal (Spain) +750
- Holger Rune (Denmark) +1400
- Casper Ruud (Norway) +1400
- Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) +1400
- Alex de Minaur (Australia) +2000
- Daniil Medvedev (neutral) +2500
- Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) +2500
In women’s tennis, four-time French Open singles champion and world number one Iga Swiatek is a firm favorite for the gold medal, ahead of Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, and Elena Rybakina.
Swiatek has been a dominant force at Roland Garros. She won her first title in 2020 and has won each of the last three titles, including this year when she blew past Jasmine Paolini in just 68 minutes in the final.
Olympic Women’s Tennis Gold Medal Odds
- Iga Swiatek (Poland) -175
- Aryna Sabalenka (neutral) +450
- Coco Gauff (USA) +550
- Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) +1000
- Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) +1400
- Mirra Andreeva (neutral) +1600
- Qinwen Zheng (China) +2000
- Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) +2000
- Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic) +2500
- Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) +2800
Track and Field
There are a wealth of track and field events to follow and bet on at each Olympics, but the events that capture the most attention are the men’s and women’s sprint events.
Who will etch their name in the history books in Paris? On the men’s side, Noah Lyles is the name to watch in both the 100 and 200. Lyles is the reigning world champion in both events, having captured the gold in last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
In the women’s sprinting events, a lot of eyes will be on Sha’Carri Richardson, the reigning world champion in the 100.
Three years after missing out on competing in the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for cannabis at the Olympic Trials, Richardson will be favored for gold in Paris.
