tokyo olympics

With just two days to go until the host city for the 2020 Olympic Games is announced, sports fans and economists all over the world are busy listing each of the three candidates’ strengths and weaknesses in an attempt to guess the overall winner. According to the bookies, however, Japan’s capital city is already the odds-on favourite to clinch the title.

Despite strong competition from Madrid and Istanbul, Tokyo is looking increasingly likely to host the 2020 Olympic Summer Games, sports site Sponichi Annex reports.

Bookmakers all over the world such as Ladbrokes and William Hill are showing that Tokyo is currently the firm favourite, with a whopping 44 percent of bets placed so far on Japan’s capital city.

▼ Bet breakdown at time of writing.

odds

Tokyo hosted the games in 1964, a fact that the city’s board of representatives played into its bid, stating that the city has an “Olympics legacy” and is well equipped to host such an event. Critics argue, however, that while hosting the Olympic Games would not doubt be good for Japan in the long-run, the vast sums of money required to do so would be better spent dealing with issues such as the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, whose cleanup effort has been beset with problems and seems to be making little progress.

The winning bid will be announced by the International Olympic Committee on September 7.

Source: Sponichi Annex
Top image: The Drum Inset image: Oddschecker