Political Gambling Sites
Only two states restrict online betting at international political betting sites, CT and WA (though these restrictions remain unenforced). State Gambling Laws Affecting Political Betting. A handful of states have already embraced state-regulated sports betting, while others are in the process of doing so. However, political wagering is frowned upon by all state gaming commissions, and it is not available at local betting lounges or state-regulated online betting sites. In the future, that might change, but for now, politicians seem reticent to “belittle” their office by letting the citizenry vote with their wallets.
Politics is ruthless, aggravating, exciting, annoying, interesting, boring and life-changing all at the same time. The general public may take only a passing interest in politics, but I know that there are lots of us out there who follow politics in great detail.
Best Political Betting Sites
You can spend your time reading blogs and e-mailing news stories to your friends, but why not take it a step further and see how much you really know about politics? Political betting sites allow you to take your knowledge of politics to a whole new level – and maybe even earn something for your efforts.
If you feel confident in your knowledge, you can visit any of our top-recommended betting sites to place bets on major political events. The largest online sportsbooks offer politics wagering for events around the world. Major events in the US, the UK and Europe are big attractions for gamblers with a thirst for politics.
How to Bet on Politics Online
The first step is to find a betting site that offers political wagering. This is a little hit-and-miss. Some bookmakers stick to sports and ignore everything else. Other bookmakers offer a little bit of everything. Check out a few of my recommended sportsbooks on this page for real money politics bets.
If you bet at a sportsbook, your political wagers will bet set up in the same manner as regular sports bets. In the years and months before an election, you’ll see a list of major political figures and their associated odds. These are basically futures bets for politics.
As time draws nearer to major elections, the number of options will decrease to the remaining contenders. At this point, the sportsbook may change the wager over to a moneyline bet. In that case, you will either bet on the favorite with reduced payouts or the underdog with greater potential payouts.
Another option is to visit a betting exchange. Betting exchanges are a little different than sportsbooks. Instead of betting against the book, you wager against other gamblers. Some people pick one side of the bet while other people take the opposite side. Prices for each side of each bet vary based on the current betting market.
You can read more about betting exchanges here.
What You Need to Know
Political Gambling Sites
Betting real money on politics is much different than debating politics. When you debate with people, you are encouraged to take your own opinions and form logical arguments that support those opinions. This is seen as a “good” way to debate.
But what’s good in debating is folly in betting. Success in political betting doesn’t come from proving your point or reciting the works of Benjamin Franklin. No, success in political betting comes from reading the public, knowing the big names of today and accurately predicting how they will react to major decisions.
For example, all the major sportsbooks usually open bets for the US Presidential election every four years. Your personal opinions on who would be best for the country have nothing to do with placing a winning bet. You will win that bet by taking a cold, calculated appraisal of the situation and determining who will actually win the most votes.
The same thing also goes for other major decisions such as sweeping changes in healthcare legislation, immigration bills and so on. Your own personal opinions mean nothing in the context of making money. The only thing that matters is predicting what the people in charge will actually do in the real world.
How to Win at Political Bets
First of all, you have to put your personal opinions aside in political betting. Politics doesn’t always work out how you wish it would. You have to put all your personal convictions, wishes, biases and opinions completely out of mind when placing real money bets on politics.
Not only that, but you also need to drive through the bias displayed by other people. Almost every news story or blog post shows hints of bias. It’s unavoidable. Don’t let that sway you when it comes time to put your money on the line.
Political Gambling Sites 2020
The mainstream news media is an important asset even though most news stories don’t go into great detail or show expertise on politics. However, the news is what most people watch. When you know what the average voter is seeing on the news every day, you have a better idea of how those people will vote.
Political blogs can be great sources of information on the inner workings of politics in your country. I follow numerous political blogs myself and have learned a lot from the writers and comments alike. But once again, you need to separate yourself from the strong opinions expressed in blogs. The guy you WANT to win the election will not always be the guy who DOES win the election.
Pay attention to numerous polls and look for trends in public opinion. You can use polling data not only to see who will win upcoming elections, but also to see how politicians are likely to react to big events. Politicians follow polling data closely and in many cases, that’s what they base their decisions on.
Yet again, I encourage you to watch for bias in polling data. Read up a little on statistics and understanding how polls and studies can be manipulated to show certain results. And when you read news recaps about polls, remember that those news stories can be biased.
The overarching point here is that bias is present everywhere. Be a skeptic – even when you read points of view that resemble your own! Never forget that the goal is to predict what will happen in the real world, not what you hope will happen.
Political betting has gained popularity in recent years, as savvy bettors look to turn their current affairs knowledge into a profit. There are big edges to be had when betting on politics, and knowledge is power. If you keep your eye on the news/debates/press releases you can get some very good value if you’re ahead of the bookmakers or other betting exchange users. Here is our list of the best political betting sites, based on availability of markets and odds on offer:
What Type of Political Bets are There?
When political betting started out, usually only the major markets were covered like ‘Next President’ or ‘Next Prime Minister’. Nowadays however, every election and referendum is covered by a huge range of markets. The US Presidential Election betting markets typically get more attention than any others and when it comes to betting on the 2016 US Presidential Election you can bet on the winner of every party primary election, which candidate will be nominated by both sides, and of course the overall winner, as well as the winning margin and total number of electoral college votes.
In the UK, they love a good political scandal and as well as the ‘Next Prime Minister’ bets, you can bet on things like how long the current government will last and which leaders will still be in power after the next election. There will also be special markets set up on any referenda or other major political events that may occur.
Best Site to Bet on Politics
- Covers Nearly Every Sport
- Great Odds
- Fast Payments
- High Credit Card Acceptance Rates
As well as the UK and US, if you shop around, you’ll find markets based on the elections of other European countries, as well as Canada, Australia and plenty of others around the time of the elections in those countries. So, if you’ve got some insider information about political unrest in North Africa, there’ll probably be a place on the internet where you an make some money out of it!
How to Win at Political Betting
As we said above, knowledge is power when it comes to political betting and if you get information before you think the general public has it that might lead to a change in the chance of a certain candidate doing well, then you need to act on that information fast, as the bookmakers and sportsbooks won’t be too far behind you.
Another key to political betting is research. In truth the bookmakers only have access to the same information as you, so if you study patterns well and keep an eye on local events then you’re in with a good shout. This is particularly useful when betting on local elections. If you’re betting on the US primaries and you have access to a UK bookmaker, you can gain a big edge by keeping a close eye on local news and TV in the particular state you’re focusing on, gauging voter sentiment from the news reports and seeing how it matches up with the prices that the bookmaker is offering you. In general, the further out of touch with the market that the betting site is, the better your opportunities to find value.
Another great market to play is the ‘In-Play’ betting during televised debates. If you think you have a good handle on how politician’s performances in these debates affect how voters feel about them then you can make money by trading on betting exchanges like Betfair during the debates.
Political Gambling Sites In America
A recent example of how important these debates can be was in the 2011 Irish Presidential election, where candidate Sean Gallagher, who was among the favourites to land the job, mentioned that he had received a donation in a ‘brown envelope’ to pass along. Shortly afterwards, his price sky-rocketed and his chance of winning the election was gone. Anyone watching the betting markets and ready to pounce had a great opportunity to lock up a profit. US Presidential hopeful Rick Perry suffered a similar fate recently, when he forgot his own manifesto during a live debate.