Faster, Higher, Stronger | Tokyo 2020: will the Olympics be cancelled, postponed or modified?
- Despite all the positive noises from the IOC and Tokyo chiefs, the clock is ticking on the Olympic Games
- IOC boss Thomas Bach says he will not add ‘fuel to the flame of speculation’ but bookies bet against him
Even if you are not partial to gambling, there is little doubt the bookmakers are usually right. That is why it is a worry that many are saying it is odds-on that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be cancelled.
Britain’s Betfair is offering $0.73 for the Olympics being chopped because of the coronavirus, while Irish bookie Paddy Power is even less optimistic, paying out just $0.66 for the cancellation of the Games. For the uninitiated, they are overwhelmingly small odds of the Games going ahead.
It is also offering $1.1 for Tokyo 2020 to go ahead as planned between July 24 and August 9, with $0.73 for the opening ceremony not taking place or being held somewhere other than the Japanese capital.
While you never see a poor bookie, you often see a poor Olympic host city once the greatest show on Earth has left town. Tokyo would be even worse off than those that have gone before if their Games is a no-go.
The Tokyo Games has already cost the Japanese government close to US$13 billion. That’s the official budget but unofficial figures have the true cost running as much as double that. A US$26 billion hit is hard to take when you get nothing back – and that is only for the hosts not factoring in the billions for sponsors and broadcasters or the expected stimulus for hotels, bars and restaurants.
