The Euro 2012 football championships are upon us. Joint hosts Poland take on Greece in the opening game of the tournament on Friday (8 June) in Warsaw. Spain are favourites to retain their Euro crown. But Germany can never be discounted and are second favourites, although Group B looks tough and they will face Denmark, the Netherlands, and Portugal in the group stages.

A look at the betting, however, shows how punters around Europe are getting varying value for their bets largely due to restricted competition or high tax regimes in different markets.

Global Betting and Gaming Consultants has gathered Euro 2012 prices from different firms around Europe for the outright winner market and the 1x2 market for the opening match between Poland and Greece.

In the outright market the offshore prices are generally the best, although they are generally matched by the .IT website for prices at the head of the market.

Punters in Sweden are getting the worst value bet if they gamble with the state monopoly. A winning bet of 10 units on Spain, for example, would see a Swedish gambler collect winnings 8% less than a bet placed with the offshore site.

The poor value of the monopoly is highlighted even more clearly in the 1x2 betting on the opening match between Poland and Greece. The monopoly is pricing up with an overround* of 125.4 compared to 106.1 for the offshore website.

“The research GBGC has undertaken demonstrates the impact that higher tax licensing regimes are having on punters’ value. In some European markets betting online might still provide the convenience for punters but it is no longer providing the value,” stated GBGC Director Lorien Pilling.

“Fortuna, which holds a licence in Poland, is even offering to pay half of the 12% betting tax on stakes that Polish punters pay in an attempt to lure them away from offshore websites. Fortuna is betting to a competitive 108.8 overround too on the opening match.”

*Overround: a guide to the theoretical profit percentage of the betting operator. A higher overround implies a higher theoretical profit margin for the betting operators (and therefore worse value for the customer)