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“There is no way Donald Trump is winning the election.”
How many times did you say that or hear someone say that in 2016? Surely no one in their right mind thought that Hillary Clinton could lose the Presidential Election to this guy, right? Well, there were a lot of people who truly thought this underdog could win, and if they were smart, they would have searched out a place to make a wager on that exact outcome.
Did you know that there is a significant amount of money being wagered around the world on politics? Throughout twenty years in the online gambling business, this area of betting has gone from a few sites willing to take action on anything to sites having full sections focused on political betting. On this page, we are going to lay out all the types of political bets you can make, as well as show you the best sites for finding the political bet you are looking for.
| Rank | DE Gambling Site | Sign Up Bonus | Get Started |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Betway Sports | 100% up to €150 | |
| #2 | 22bet Sports | 100% up to €122 | |
| #3 | Spin Sports | 100% up to €200 | |
| #4 | 10Bet Sports | 100% up to €50 | |
| #5 | Guts Sports | 100% up to €50 |
Where Is the Best Place to Make a Political Bet?
There are a couple things to look for when it comes to political betting online. First off, you want to visit several sites to find the best odds on what it is that you are looking to make a bet on. We have compiled a list of some of our recommended sites for political betting above.
One factor to take into consideration is the location of the site offering the odds. It is more likely that a site based in the UK will have a better handle on British politics, and as a result may have more options when it comes to betting on the outcomes of elections in that country.
Another potential decision-making concept for political gamblers is what types of elections a site offers odds upon. If you relate this to traditional sports betting, you can find some sites that allow you to bet on minor league or division sports as opposed to the major leagues. For the purposes of political betting, this could mean finding a site that is taking action on the results of a Mayoral election as well as one of more national exposure like Prime Minister. These smaller-scale elections may provide better opportunities to find more generous odds for players.
Why Are People Betting on Politics?
The easy answer to this is that people will bet on anything if given a chance and the right odds. It is hard to say when betting on elections began, but it is likely that it goes back a few hundred years along with most sports gambling. Making a bet on the outcome of a political campaign is no different than making a bet on a boxing match, really. If you break it down, there are two opponents (sometimes more than two, depending on the election) who are trying to win a title. There are favorites and underdogs, and with that come odds of a candidate securing the win.
These days, with all the craziness going on in the world, especially in the United States, more people are turning to gambling on the future outcomes of political campaigns as a way of dealing with the emotions around the events themselves. As you will see a little further down, many online gambling sites are capitalizing on this trend by offering a wide array of bets on the political moves of countries around the world.
What Types of Bets Can Be Made on Politics?
This is where we have seen the most changes in the political betting landscape over the last few years. Online gambling sites are dedicating more time and effort to the sport of politics, and this means that there has been a significant increase in the number of betting options for the public. Let’s look at a few of the most popular types.
1. Straight Bets
These are the standard bets on which candidate or party will win an election. In some cases, you will be able to bet on a political party winning the next election even if they haven’t chosen a leader yet. For the majority of straight bets, however, you will find odds on each of the election participants, and you will make your selection on who you think will win. If that candidate wins, you get paid!
These types of bets are similar to moneyline bets in sports. You pick a winner and based on their handicapped odds, and you are paid based on the line the site puts up. Again, as some sites may pay more attention to this than others, doing your research is important as you may find significant swings in the odds from site to site. Finding value in these political bets is what can make them a profitable venture.
2. Spread Bets
These types of political bets are not focused on which candidate or party will win the election, but by what margin. This is similar in nature to spread betting on sports. While you know the Golden State Warriors are going to beat the Brooklyn Nets, in an NBA game when you are spread betting you will have to bet that they are going to win by at least certain number of points.
To convert that to betting on elections, let’s look at the 2016 US presidential election. You might have found the following bets available:
- Clinton -2,000,000 in the general election
- Trump +1,900,000 in the general election
- How many electoral votes will Clinton beat Trump by?
- How many electoral votes will Trump win by?
- How many seats will the Democrats win by?
As you can see, this would allow you to bet on a candidate without having them win the actual election, similarly to an underdog covering the spread. With straight bets, your choice would have to win the election outright. This gives you a different way of betting on the outcome, which appeals more to someone who isn’t entirely sure who the victor will be.
3. Prop Bets
Prop bets have become more and more popular in the sports betting world over the last decade. Rather than requiring an outcome of an event to take place, prop bets allow someone to make a wager on other aspects. This can be applied to the world of politics as well, especially when it comes to some of the leading political countries around the world.
Prop betting, as we mentioned, is not dependent on the outcome of an election. As a matter of fact, there doesn’t even need to be an election to make a prop bet on a political figure. Let’s use the US as an example. Here are some prop bets you could find or may have found in the past about American politics:
- What will be the official weight of the President announced as after his physical?
- How many days will Donald Trump be President?
- What will the age of the Democratic Candidate for President in 2020 be?
- How many times will Trump say a particular word in a State of the Union speech?
- Will the President be impeached?
All of these types of prop bets would come with two options (for example, for the weight bet it could be Under 240.5 and Over 240.5) and in most cases, the odds are the same for either side of the bet (-110). Prop bets are more for entertainment purposes than anything, and what could need entertainment added to it more than politics these days, right?!
Can You Be a “Sharp” Political Bettor?
Of course you can! As we mentioned, one of the easiest ways to give yourself an advantage when it comes to political betting is to shop around. You will most likely find slightly different odds on a particular bet from book to book. As there won’t be the same type of volume of bets on elections as on sporting events, the lines have to move so sites can protect themselves.
Another thing to look for is the betting limit on any individual political wager. If you are sure of an outcome, then you want to find a site that has high limits for these types of bets. In most cases, you will find smaller limits for political bets than traditional sports wagers, as the sites don’t have a team of political experts on staff. A sharp bettor will find the highest limit to go along with the best price before putting any money down.
Now, when it comes to being a sharp bettor from an information standpoint, well, that’s a different concept altogether. There are thousands of journalists that would likely consider themselves to be “experts” on the topic of politics, but how many of them would have picked a Trump victory in the 2016 US presidential election?
We would say that being an insider definitely helps – maybe you know a Senator or someone who works in a Mayor’s office. That type of inside information can definitely make a difference when it comes to finding the diamonds in the rough. In that way, it is very similar to horse racing, as many times someone working in the stables will come across the inside scoop on a particular horse.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the appetite for gambling on politics has grown over the years. These days, you can find any number of sites offering odds on all kinds of elections across the globe. However, to make political gambling a profitable venture, you should be doing your research not just on the candidates and campaigns, but on the sites offering these bets. A little bit of time spent searching out the best odds can make the difference in how much you can win when you are ready to make your bet, and isn’t that what it is all about?
Wait, you can bet on politics?
Yes, you can! In fact, since 2016, political betting has been one of the fastest-growing categories of the online betting industry and political betting odds are popping up all over. For Americans or anyone living in the USA, offshore betting is the only lawful option, as it is illegal for brick and mortar sportsbooks to offer any sort of politics betting. In Europe, however, this form of wagering is a well-established staple of their legalized betting culture.
Regardless, top-notch online political betting sites are available to everyone, no matter where you live. What’s most important is finding one that’s vetted, safe to use, and can be relied upon to provide handicappers with the best odds and markets consistently.
Top Sites for Betting on Politics
- Bovada – One of the most widely recognized names in online wagers, they frequently offer the best political betting odds.
- MyBookie – This site posts a broad range of creative political lines, including a selection of fun Donald Trump prop bets.
- BetOnline – As a long-time industry leader in online bookmaking, it has lots of great political betting markets.
- Betway – This is a UK-based bookmaker that holds licenses throughout Europe and offers a large selection of US and European political betting opportunities.
Our mission is to introduce new players to the world’s top political betting websites; however, the qualities that make an option the “best” for one player may not be the same for another. It’s all relatively subjective once you get past the fundamental attributes like safety, legitimacy, and ease of use. You can find out more about this further down on the page but first, lets jump into to different political betting options on the market.
Political Betting Around the World
Everything from the online sportsbooks available in your region, to the political betting events in which you’re likely interested, will probably depend on your location or country of origin. In the United States, it’s illegal for licensed providers—brick and mortar and web-based bookmakers alike—to take odds on politics. This law was put into place to prevent the American electoral system from corruption.
However, it’s perfectly legal for US citizens to utilize offshore betting sites; they just won’t benefit from any government regulations, which makes finding trustworthy operators particularly crucial for Americans. The best political bookmakers accepting Americans will often cover foreign elections as well, but not as thoroughly as what’s going on in the United States.
In Europe, political betting is commonplace and easily accessible, both at land-based establishments and on the internet. For a player in the UK, using a licensed gaming website is a requirement, which gives the player increased protections and less reason to fret about the legitimacy of a site operator. Fortunately, European oddsmakers do a superb job at covering US political events in addition to their local lines.
Betting US Politics
No matter the country in which you live, United States political betting markets are the most popular on the internet. All of the top political betting sites offer a plenty of lines and odds, dealing with the US presidential elections, party primaries, congressional races, and a wealth of wagers relating specifically to President Donald Trump.
Political betting’s rapid growth is largely attributed to the 2016 election, in which Trump scored a shocking upset win over Hillary Clinton. Before that race, wagering on politics didn’t offer much value, because the polls were relatively accurate, and so the lines and odds shifted in response to the latest polling data.
2016 changed everything because it proved that:
- The pollsters and media were no longer reliable sources
- That major upsets were possible, which means there’s positive value out there for handicappers.
Today, you can bet on each individual state’s primary or caucus on the road to the two parties’ national conventions, the eventual nominees, how many times Donald Trump will tweet in a given day, whether he will be removed from office, and so much more!
Betting UK Politics
As we previously mentioned, betting on politics has been a normal fixture of UK odds boards for years. Similar to Trump’s victory in 2016, handicappers in England were treated to a massive upset of their own with the passing of “Brexit.” The substantial payouts and surprising result had the same impact across the pond, creating newfound interest in betting on politics.
Online sportsbooks in the UK treat residents to all sorts of creative lines, covering everything from the London mayoral election, to the next leaders of each major party, to the next general election. Bookies include options to bet on either the next winning party or next Prime Minister in the generals.
Betting French Politics
Many online political betting sites cover French elections and events as well. France’s presidential election takes place every five years, with the next race taking place in 2022. The current president is Emmanuel Macron, whose main opponent in two years will be Marine Le Pen of the National Rally party. Many European oddsmakers are already taking action on the electoral contest.
It’s also worth noting that France uses a two-round presidential election system, providing multiple opportunities on which to wager on the same race.
The Basics of Political Betting
As you know, the category of “political betting” covers a broad range of unique wager types and events. The most common are futures bets for presidential elections.
Sportsbooks will post political betting odds for the incumbent and a variety of potential nominees for the opposing party and set lines for them all. You pick who you believe will become the next president, and the bet is resolved on election night. But that’s only a small percentage of what the best political betting sites offer – check out the different types of wagers below.
Types of Political Bets
Moneyline
A moneyline bet deals with two possible outcomes; for example, “Which party will win the 2020 presidential election? Republicans or Democrats?” Often, despite having two possible options, the likelihood of either of them happening isn’t an equal 50/50 split.
So, moneyline odds set specific payouts for both sides. The “favorite” or result more likely to happen is expressed as a negative number, like –150. That means you must bet $150 on that side to win $100. The underdog has positive moneyline odds, such as +125. For every $100 you stake, you’ll earn $125.
Donald Trump -125
Bernie Sanders +105
Futures
Most political bets fall into the “futures” category. These are merely wagers that will be decided on a specific date in the future. They’ll often include a field of participants from which the bettor may choose. The 2020 presidential election (example displayed below) is considered a futures bet, for which you can pick Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, and several others.
Odds to Win the 2020 Presidential Election
| Politician | Betting Odds |
|---|---|
| Joe Biden | -135 |
| Donald Trump | +105 |
| Mike Pence | +10000 |
| Hillary Clinton | +10000 |
| Michelle Obama | +10000 |
| Elizabeth Warren | +15000 |
| Nikki Haley | +25000 |
| Mark Cuban | +50000 |
| Kanye West | +50000 |
Props
The “proposition” label covers a wide variety of bets. Any odds dealing with political outcomes beyond the usual electoral contests are considered a prop. For example, some online sportsbooks allow you to wager on current events like, “Will Donald Trump complete his first term in office as President of the US?” All of the political betting odds and lines dealing with Trump’s tweets and foreign policy decisions fit under the “prop bet” title as well.
Totals (Over-Unders)
Totals bets are when the oddsmakers set a line, dealing with how many times a specific occurrence will take place.
Betting Presidential and General Elections
The most popular way to bet politics is by placing a few dollars on whichever candidate you predict will win an upcoming election. Since 2016, interest in the United States general election has skyrocketed around the globe.
If a long-shot reality TV host like Donald Trump could find his way into the White House, in the future, anything could happen! Expectations are that America’s 2020 presidential election will attract the most action globally of any political betting market in history.
The UK’s general elections to decide their Prime Minister is probably the second-most-significant event for wagering on politics. In 2019, Boris Johnson was the favorite when he defeated the Labour Party’s, Jeremy Corbin. Some of the more prominent European sportsbooks also cover elections in Ireland, France, and throughout the EU.
Party Primaries
While the general election in US politics is the “championship game,” the party primaries are akin to the regular season. Heading into 2020, Donald Trump is the incumbent on the Republican side, without a significant primary challenger. However, the Democrats have a very competitive race for the party’s nomination on their side of the aisle, with four or five viable candidates.
Betting Odds Politics
Not only can you wager on the eventual DNC nominee, but the best online political betting sites are also posting lines on each individual state. For example, the Iowa caucuses were the first statewide contest for pledged delegates. Pete Buttigieg ultimately won the most delegates and was thus awarded the victory as a slight underdog to Bernie Sanders.
The primaries offer the most valuable betting odds to handicappers due to the high variance in results and the volume of contests. They present 50 unique political wagering opportunities in the lead-up to the presidential elections. In years without an incumbent, that means 100 chances to bet on politics.
Congressional Elections
In the United States, the president serves a four-year term. Senators serve six-year terms, and members of the House of Representatives are given two-year terms, so there are significant electoral contests on which to wager every two years, minimum. Midterm elections are a crucial opportunity for political bettors, as they offer dozens of additional high-variance betting markets from which to profit.
Beyond the individual Senate and House races, the makeup of the two chambers of Congress will greatly influence other political odds. For example, if you had bet that Trump would be impeached and removed from office during his first term, you were closely following the 2018 midterms.
When enough House seats were flipped to Democrat to give them the majority, it was nearly guaranteed that the sitting president would eventually be impeached. However, they weren’t able to win a majority in the Senate, which is the chamber responsible for holding the impeachment trial and acting as jurors. As a result, Donald Trump was impeached but acquitted.
Betting on Current Events
Thankfully, the growth of betting on politics odds has encouraged online sportsbooks to post new lines in the periods between elections. Oddsmakers have been known to set political odds on almost anything.
Sometimes, you can bet on whether or not a specific piece of legislation will pass. In other cases, you may see lines and odds on the next Supreme Court Justice appointed or how the United States will respond to recent foreign policy situations.
What’s important is that the top political betting sites keep handicappers that like to wager on politics busy during downtime.
Donald Trump Prop Bets
Nobody is more singularly responsible for the explosion of betting on politics than Donald Trump. Hate him or love him, he’s been the focus of everyone’s attention since his historic 2016 campaign that culminated with a monumental upset over Hillary Clinton at roughly 4-1 odds.
Since the current president is continually the most talked about man in America, the top online sportsbooks usually post an entire slate of Donald Trump propositions. This is where you’ll see the over/unders on his Twitter activities, odds on whether he’ll meet with different world leaders like Russia’s Putin or China’s Xi, and betting lines about impeachment.
Criteria for the Best Political Betting Sites
At TheSportsGeek, our team of internet gaming experts is continually reviewing new political betting sites to ensure our lists are always stocked with the best names in the business. We can’t promise that every recommendation will fit your unique preferences, but we can guarantee that any online sportsbook on our pages is safe, offers a variety of politics betting markets, and accepts a range of banking options.
That way, even if you decide a different online sportsbook might be a better fit, it won’t be because you were scammed or treated unfairly. Our reviewers make sure to protect our readers from fraudulent operators, so you can focus on the specific website details or, better yet, winning your election bets. Learn more about how we review and rank these websites by clicking on any of the criteria below.
Unlike sports betting, political events don’t come around as often. Most major elections around the world take place in four- or five-year cycles. That’s why the best political betting sites get creative with odds, covering a wide variety of situations and outcomes beyond the most prominent electoral contests.For example, some websites set weekly proposition political odds dealing explicitly with Donald Trump. Here is an example of a Donald Trump prop bet:
You can wager on his volume of tweets, which renowned international terrorist he’ll capture or kill next, whether he’ll declare war, be impeached, and so much more. The more options they provide to handicappers, the better.
Betting on politics should be a year-round activity, just like handicapping sports. The only way to accomplish this is to find online oddsmakers known to post an extensive selection of political betting odds.
The importance of variety extends beyond the political gambling markets to a website's banking options as well. These days, there are lots of different ways to move money in and out of your online gaming account. Finding the best method for you depends on your location, regional regulations, and personal preferences.
For example, in the United States, banks are required by federal law to block transactions between their account holders’ checking accounts and known gaming operations. While it’s not illegal for you to bet at an offshore site, banking institutions cannot assist you in financing your activities.
Credit card companies, however, often have no issue with you using their services to fund your betting account. The same goes for numerous e-wallets, online payment processors, and cryptocurrencies. Of course, different banking methods each have their own strengths and weaknesses.
A credit card is excellent for fast deposits and provides an additional layer of consumer protections, but it cannot be used to accept withdrawals. Cryptocurrencies are anonymous and perfect for instant transactions but can be complicated to purchase and may fluctuate wildly in value.
Depositing and withdrawing directly from your debit card or checking account is the height of convenience, but only available in select regions, and requires you to share sensitive banking information with the website operators.
That’s why accepting a variety of banking methods is so essential to creating a top-tier political betting site. You need a range of options to find what works best for your specific situation.
Now, obviously, we don’t anticipate you needing to connect with the customer service team at any of our recommended political gambling sites. Still, it’s vital that the best online sportsbooks provide excellent support, just in case something unexpected happens or an error occurs. Even the top websites experience random issues from time to time.What matters most is that any problems you encounter or questions you may have are tended to in a timely and respectful manner. When executing our review process, we research the different ways to contact each political betting site’s customer support team and verify that they’re active and supervised by responsive help desk agents.
Most online sportsbooks have three methods of communication: email, telephone, and a live chat window. Our reviewers test each option and record how quickly they receive a response. We encourage you to do the same before depositing money. That way, you can feel assured that while you bet politics, there’s a responsive and helpful customer service team standing by, should you ever need them.
For most people, the scariest thing about online political betting is transferring their hard-earned money to a website hosted offshore and/or in a foreign jurisdiction. The internet is littered with scammers and their fraudulent gambling websites, so the fear is warranted. That’s why vetting web-based sportsbooks for safety and security make up the foundation of our review process; there’s nothing more important.Any political betting website that qualifies for our lists of recommendations has been intensively researched and tested to ensure they’re legitimate, trustworthy businesses. Our reviewers also pay close attention to site security, so we can be certain that all of your data and financial information is protected with state-of-the-art encryption.
European Politics Betting Odds
Another element of our website reviews is digging into each political betting site owner’s history and reputation in the online gaming industry. Just because a sportsbook is operating with integrity at the moment, doesn’t mean you can trust them long term. There have been oddsmakers who behaved themselves long enough to gain a regulatory license, only to go rogue after the fact.We prefer providers with a proven track record in the gaming industry. Our team analyzes the business dealings of the owners behind our recommendations and their previous domains to verify there’s no history of unethical behavior. They also study reviews and speak to top handicappers to be sure that any political betting website we share with our readers has an excellent reputation among the experts who know best.
Types of Political Betting Websites
Earlier, we mentioned how subjective it could be to determine which factors make one online sportsbook “better” than another. Once you have the fundamental criteria covered, finding the ideal political betting website is mostly a matter of personal preference. We believe that all of our recommendations are the top providers in the industry; some just have different specialties.
For example, you may be looking to bet politics right from your mobile phone. In that case, you’ll be interested in visiting our page at ranks to best mobile betting options.
Betting Markets Politics
Now, just because a betting website isn’t shared on that page doesn’t mean it won’t work on your phone or tablet. It may just not be compatible with as many different mobile devices as the other options that are listed. The online sportsbooks recommended on out real money page are safe and likely available on any mobile device you could have.
The same goes for fast payout betting sites. None of our recommendations offer slow payouts. That’s one of the variables we screen during our review process. The providers listed on the “fast payout” page specialize in completing monetary transactions swiftly.
Why Bet Politics Online
Political betting is still relatively new to the world of handicapping. Sure, it’s existed as a kind of novelty market in UK bookmaking shops for years, but it’s only been since 2016 that elections and politics have grown as legitimate competitions worth handicapping. With the world changing, polls and media personalities no longer exert enough influence to control the outcomes of races, meaning there’s now more value in betting politics than ever before.
For many of us, turning to online sportsbooks for our political betting is the only option, as land-based providers are barred from covering anything other than sports. Fortunately, in today’s interconnected world, that’s barely an inconvenience. As you’ve seen on this page, there are plenty of incredible top-notch political betting sites out there, just waiting for you to put your money where your mouth is!
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