MTV Video Music Awards Betting

Canadian Artists Feature Prominently in MTV Video Music Awards Betting

The music world is coming together to celebrate the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) show that is happening soon on August 28. The VMA awards are one of the most closely followed awards shows and attracts a large celebrity crowd. 

With so much attention on this year’s edition of the awards show, betting activity has been ramping up. There are a bunch of different markets available at Canadian betting sites.

Canadians will be glued to the TV because of the large number of fellow countrymen that are nominated this year. Canadian celebrities and superstars such as Justin Bieber, The Weekend, and Drake are all among the many nominees. 

This guide will cover everything that you need to know about betting on the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards including all the latest odds. 

VMA Awards Betting Odds

The MTV Music Video Awards are an annual awards show that honors the year’s best in music and music videos. The awards show is massive with the younger music demographic and routinely pulls in millions of viewers between the ages of 18-24. 

The awards show is presented by the cable channel MTV which most music fans will be aware of. The MTV VMAs were first handed out in 1984 and started to gain lots of popularity in the early 2000s. 

Since 2006, fans of the award show have been able to cast their votes through the MTV website. This has added an interactive element to the awards show that gets the viewer involved. 

Canadians have historically done well at the VMAs as some of the most decorated names in the show’s history have hailed from up north. Avril Lavigne and Justin Bieber are just two of the many Canadian stars that won their first VMA at a young age. 

Canada's Avril Lavigne is a multiple award winner with MTV

There are different betting markets available for the VMAs that correspond to the different award categories. Here are the odds for some of the most popular VMA betting markets that you can find at the moment. 

🍁 = Canadian

MTV Artist Of the Year Betting

The biggest award available at the MYV awards is Artiste of the year. It was introduced in 2017 and opened to any gender to replace the outdated best male video and best female video awards.

Ed Sheeran was the first winner of MTV Artist of The Year in 2017 whilst Ariana Grande along with winning in 2019, had been nominated each year since inception providing her with the most to date

Ed Sheeran from England was the first winner of the Artist of the year at the MYV Video Music Awards

MTV Best New Artist Betting

Introduced as the Best New Artist video with the first MTV Awards in 1984, the MTV Best New Artiste now encapsulates an entire year's contribution to music rather than highlighting a specific video release.

MTV Song of the Year Betting

Another of the newer award categories, The MTV Music Video award for Song of the year was introduced in 2018, and along with Artist of the year is one of the most coveted trophies. Previous winners include, Lady GaGa and Arina Grande for Rain on me, and Olivia Rodrigo in 2021

Lady GaGa - Schen, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Music Video of the Year Betting

The holy grail of the MTV Music Video Awards is the Video of the Year category which is the final award of the evening's ceremony. This is the viewer's choice, as whilst it was a professional panel choosing the winner from 1984 through to 2005, since 2006 MTV viewers vote for the winner through the MTV Website.

Eminem has the most nominations here with 7 - No artiste has won more than twice but four share that current honor, they are - Eminem, Rihanna, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift - Fine company if you can get into it.

Eminem has won Music Video of the Year twice

What is VMA Awards Betting? 

Betting on the VMAs is a specials market but one that has grown in popularity in recent years. Many of the major awards shows on the entertainment calendar have become betting events in recent years as gambling interest continues to proliferate in popular culture. 

All of the most coveted awards are covered by the sportsbooks as well as some of the lesser-known ones. This means that if you have an inkling of who’s going to win artist of the year, you have a chance to profit from it if you’re right. 

Before the advancement of online sportsbooks and betting sites, it was common to hold a betting pool at award show parties. That fun can now be taken online where bettors have the chance to win more than just a few bucks at their office party. 

VMA betting is quite simple as all you need to do is pick the winner from the award that you’ve chosen to bet on. While there are usually somewhere between 5-7 nominees for each award, most of the time the real competition is between 2-3 of the top contenders. 

MTV Moonman Award Trophy - Deidre Woollard, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

VMA Awards Betting Markets

Log in to your online betting site that’s carrying the VMA betting markets and you’ll find a bunch of different options. With more than 20 awards given out each year, the VMAs offer many chances to get some action down. 

Some sportsbooks will carry every single award category while others will only carry odds for a select few. Here are some of the most popular VMA betting markets and what they mean. 

Best Song of the Year

There are tons of great songs released every year that it can seem like an impossible task to outline the very best one. However, that is a challenge that the VMAs take on. 

This is one of the most popular betting markets, though not the absolute largest. When looking at this market, keep in mind that the VMAs tend to skew towards the younger generation and focus on pop, hip-hop, and rap music. 

Best Music Video

This is the most prestigious of all the VMA awards and will likely be the largest betting market. Because the award show has focus on music videos and all the production that goes into creating them, the “Best Music Video” award is seen as the most desirable. Expect lots of betting on this market. 

Best New Artist

The VMAs do a good job at recognizing the talent that is just breaking onto the music scene. The “Best New Artist” category highlights some of the industry’s hottest up-and-coming stars in the making. Previous winners include now full-fledged superstars like Justin Bieber, One Direction, Cardi B, and Maroon 5. 

One Direction, former Best New Artist Winners, from whom Harry Style emerged - https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcen27, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Best Artist of the Year

For those that are already established in their careers, the “Artist of the Year” award is the one that they’re chasing. This award recognizes an artist's full body of work over the previous year. It’s a relatively new award, making its debut at the 2017 edition of the VMAs. 

How to bet on the MTV Awards

You can find the betting markets and related odds for the VMA awards at a ton of different online sportsbooks across the web. Once you’ve found a sportsbook that you like, simply navigate to the VMAs section and peruse the selection that is offered to you. 

If you’re just looking to make a single wager, then select your wager from the offering and choose your stake. It’s a relatively simple and easy process to make this type of bet at any online sportsbook. 

If you’re looking to add some risk to your wager, you could think about making a parlay with selections from different VMA betting markets. This would increase the return but also decrease the probability of winning your bet. 

MTV Awards Leading Contenders

There are a ton of different talented artists nominated for VMAs that deserve recognition. Just being nominated for a VMA is a honour in itself. Only the most talented of artists are ever mentioned as nominees and it takes a legendary career to be a regular candidate. 

However, there have been a few artists that have been able to demonstrate a track record of continued success. These artists have mastered their craft to such a degree that it’s stranger for them to not be nominated for a VMA than it is to be. 

Canadians will be especially interested in the nominees that were born in Canada. At the moment, there are a few Canadians that have been perennial nominees. These artists have each managed to win multiple VMAs and have been mainstays at the award show for many years. 

Justin Bieber

Lou Stejskal, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Justin Bieber’s evolution from Canadian teenage heartthrob to A-list celebrity has been a long and interesting one, but he seems to have finally found his niche and settled into fame. Bieber is no stranger to the VMAs as he’s one of the most nominated artists over the past decade. 

He’s been nominated more than 30 times over that period and managed to win six awards. Bieber has also wowed the audience with amazing shows as a performer at the VMA over the years. 

Drake 

The Come Up Show, CC BY 2.5 , via Wikimedia Commons

Most likely the biggest rap star of his generation, Drake has managed to show off his musical range in recent years by releasing songs in a variety of genres. He’s performed at the show and been involved in some of the award show’s most controversial moments across its history. 

Drake has also been nominated more than 30 times and has managed to win three different VMAs over his career thus far. 

The Weekend

Nicolas Padovani, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The Weekend has evolved into one of the biggest pop stars in the world and has had his own Super Bowl halftime show among other great honours. With more than 20 nominations and a victory of his own, The Weekend has been a significant recipient of VMA praise. 

Things to consider when betting on the MTV Awards

When you’re betting on the MTV VMAs, it’s important to remember that the music recognized tends to skew towards radio hits and popular culture. This is a time to recognize the music that is performing well in a commercial sense in our present culture. Thus, many of the songs that win are the ones that you constantly hear on the radio. 

Also keep in mind that the MTV Awards tend to favour rap music as well as pop music. As a result, it’s very rare that you see a country star racking up the awards. In addition, because there is so much focus placed on the video, artists that have the benefit of big label budgets often perform well. 

Here are the past winners for some of the major categories that you can take into consideration to help your betting. 

MTV Best New Artist Previous Winners

The girls have dominated this category winning consecutive titles between 2018-2021 and gaining the Best New Artist at the MTV Music video awards

MTV Song of The Year Previous Winners

Olivia Rodrigo did a double with the Song of the year and best new artist in 2021, prior to that there were three years where collaborations took the Moonman trophy

MTV Artist of The Year Previous Winners

Juston Bieber came back to the fore with Artist of the year in 2021 at the MTV Awards, the first male winner since Ed Sheeran took the title in 2017 i the first year of this new combined category

MTV Music Video of the Year

The hottest award of the night and awarded as the last announcement of the night is the Music Video of the year.