Betting on politics has become a large part of the betting industry with almost every major political event in the world having a strong betting market for anybody who wants to bet on it. Not only is this restricted to country events and changes but in a lot of countries betting is available down to a provincial level, creating a market with a seemingly limitless number of bets available. Political betting can be daunting to any new bettors, Below we will cover how to bet and a few tips to help you along the way.
Types Of Bets
This is where sports bettors will see some radical change. Political betting while having many opportunities to bet, does lack the sheer market of sports betting. In politics it is for the most part a “to win” bet. There are many prop bets to be had on the side, but “to win” will remain the staple for political betting. Let’s look into some of the Prop bets that may be interesting. We will be using American politics for this example as American politics are generally the most reported on, making research much easier.
- Exit date – A wager placed on when a politician will leave their current role. Example; Joe Biden Exit date 2022 33/5 odds. If we look at the odds, we can see that this is stipulated to be an unlikely situation, but with strong odds it may be worth the risk involved.
- Serve full term – A wager placed on whether a politician will serve their full term. Example; Joe Biden to serve full term YES 11/18 odds. From the odds we can see that this is assumed to be likely, Unless you suspect something that the general population does not, the odds are not great for a bet here.
- Outright winner – You can bet on a presidential election well before the election takes place. At the moment there are several candidates who can be bet on to win the US 2024 presidential election. Odds vary wildly depending on the candidate. If you have a good hunch, this type of bet could make a lot of profit if made now before the odds change as we draw closer to the election.
Research
This is where political betting becomes a bit more difficult than traditional sports betting. In sports betting, facts are easy to come by. The state of the players and of the teams is easily attainable information. In political betting, research poses a few problems.
The main problem posed is the skewing of information. We saw it in the last presidential race, and we will likely see it again, news outlets and avid political followers tend to paint a misleading picture which can skew your betting decisions.
When doing research for political betting, it is important to get as clear a picture as possible to make educated decisions without favouring the political party you would like to win. Keep your personal preference and your betting decisions apart, your betting income will thank you for it.