Betting On Political Candidates

1. Betting On Political Candidates 2019
2. Betting On Political Candidates Results
3. Betting On Political Candidates Today

The 2020 presidential election cycle is drawing to a close, and the United States is a mere few days away from finally deciding on a president. And you might be noticing various indications of the odds for each of the two main candidates, President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden. That might lead you to ask the question of whether or not it is legal to bet on the presidential election in the United States in the first place.

This year’s election has perhaps garnered more interest from the American public than any in decades. People on both sides are extremely passionate about their candidate, to the point where it feels like there isn’t much middle ground. And since people are so vocal about their chosen candidate, it stands to reason that they might want to put their money where their mouths are by making wagers on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

• MyBookie – 100% Welcome Bonus up to $1,000
• BetNow – 100% Welcome Bonus up to $1,000
• Bovada – 50% Welcome Bonus up to $250
• BetOnline – 50% Welcome Bonus up to $1,000

There might be some question about whether or not it is legal to bet on the presidential election. On one hand, you have to worry about whether you, as a bettor, can even place a wager. Then, you also have to ensure that the online gambling websites where you place your bets will actually pay you back.

Presidential Election. The 60th Quadrennial U.S. Presidential Election runs on November 5th 2024. BUSR has the latest odds for all potential candidates (including a few names that may surprise you). So, it stands to reason that betting real money on Republican candidates online to win presidential races has been a profitable endeavor over the years. While political betting hasn’t always been as popular as it is today, there’s no questioning the fact that political betting markets have made their way into the American mainstream. Top rated political betting sites. Get the latest on political prop bets and where you can place bets on them. Upcoming Match-ups.

We’re here to help you out by providing some clarity by telling you whether or not you can legally wager on the US presidential election. In addition, we’ll tell you which sites to visit if you do want to make legal wagers. Finally, we’ll also talk to you about the types of bets you can make if you do decide to go forward with betting on the 2020 presidential election.

Can You Legally Bet on the US Presidential Election?

Well, the simplest answer is yes and no. You can make your wagers on the 2020 presidential election as long as you do so with a site that can legally take them. But even if you find yourself betting on the election through an illegal venue of some sort, you usually are not the one facing the legal burden.

Back in the early 1960s, the United States put a law into effect called the Federal Wire Act. It was directed at organized crime and their habit of making lots of money from taking sports wagers from common citizens. But this law essentially means that no betting can take place across state lines without an okay from the jurisdiction in question.

In other words, the bookies that unofficially ran the action back in those days were the ones that were targeted. But it’s important to realize that the bettors themselves weren’t the ones who were in any legal jeopardy. The only ones who had to worry were the ones taking the bets.

Although the Federal Wire Act was meant to cover sporting events, it stands to reason that it could easily be applied to those who wanted to take odds on US elections. The bottom line is, if you’re in the United States and betting with an unsanctioned bookmaker or organization, those taking the bets may have to deal with the law.

Gambling on the Presidential Election Online

When the creators of the Federal Wire Act wrote the law, they were essentially using wire communications as their method of stopping illegal gambling. In other words, any kind of telephone communication about gambling was grounds for legal action. But those lawmakers never envisioned the internet as a form of wire communications in the future.

Of course, this would all apply to any attempts to bet online on the 2020 presidential election. You will have no problem finding sites located overseas giving you the opportunity to wager on it. What you won’t find is any US sites, such as those sites attached to land-based casinos in states where sports and casino gambling are legal, giving odds on the election.

The reason is that it would likely be frowned upon by the United States Justice Department. If the sites indicated that one candidate was way ahead, it could discourage people from actually going out and voting. That’s why you won’t see odds on Trump and Biden alongside the odds for the Cowboys-Eagles game this Sunday, at least not at US betting sites.

Betting on the Presidential Election Overseas

We’ve established that it isn’t likely that you’ll be able to legally wager on the 2020 presidential election at United States-based casinos, sportsbooks, or gambling websites. But what about the betting websites that are located outside the US?

If you’ve ever traveled overseas and visited a bookmaker operation of casino, you might have been surprised at the vast number of events—even ones that aren’t sports-related—that can be wagered at these locations. There is no doubt that gambling laws are a little more relaxed in certain countries outside the United States. And that applies to the gambling websites that are sourced from these countries.

Can you bet on the 2020 presidential election with these sites? Again, the answer isn’t just a simple yes or no.

Betting On Political Candidates 2019

But the key is whether or not you will be able to do that. The main issue is transferring your money. Some financial institutions, such as banks or credit card companies, may frown on your use of their funds for overseas gambling.

If that’s the case, you might find that you can’t make deposits into your account. That means you won’t be able to wager on the presidential election, because you won’t be able to put anything at stake. But if you choose your gambling websites wisely, you won’t have this problem. In the next few sections, we’ll explain how to do that.

Safely Betting on the 2020 Presidential Election

You have to realize that the world of online gambling is quite a competitive one. There are hundreds of online betting operations available to you, most of which are located outside the United States. And many of those will likely offer you the chance to bet on the presidential election.

The problem is that many of these sites aren’t quite as trustworthy and reliable as you might like them to be. Whenever you bet on anything online, you’ll need to provide both personal and financial information. And if you give that info to a site that isn’t trustworthy, it can be disastrous for you.

For that reason, you should only choose reputable websites to wager on the presidential election. First of all, these legit sites are safe for you in terms of setting up an account and providing the necessary information. Second, these sites can also be trusted to return any winnings to you that you might have achieved betting on the presidential election for real money.

But how do you know which of these trusted presidential election betting sites are okay to use? Well, you have to do the research and read the reviews offered online.

One other important characteristic of these gambling websites is that they all can boast of a wide variety of funding options. If one or more of your preferred banking methods is in some way blocked or unavailable, you should still be able to find another one that works for you. And that ensures you’ll have no problem getting your wagers in for the 2020 presidential election.

How to Bet on the 2020 Presidential Election Online

For those of you who have never wagered on anything online before, you might think that the process is confusing. But it’s actually quite simple, even for those who might be a little technologically-challenged. Here is a simple step-by-step guide:

1. Choose your site: You can look up sites that allow you to wager on the 2020 presidential election. However, we suggest that you begin with the top gambling sites. Search through those sites to see which one seems most comfortable to you.
2. Sign up: This will require you to provide personal information so that the site can know who you are and how to contact you. You’ll also have to create a username and password. Once you have that in place, you’ll enter it every time you log into the site.
3. Fund your account: This is what we talked about above, where you provide the financial information that allows you to deposit and withdraw from your gambling account. This might mean typing in credit card numbers, bank account routing numbers, or even cryptocurrency account numbers.
4. Find the page for betting on the 2020 presidential election: The best gambling websites will be easy to navigate, so this shouldn’t be a problem. You’ll decide what types of bets to make (more on that below) and how much you want to put at stake.
5. Win the bet: If your bet is successful, the money that you’ve earned—based on the odds that were provided to you for wager and how much you put at stake—will be added to your gambling account. If, at any point, you want to get your hands on that money, you’ll contact the site to begin the withdrawal process.

Betting on the 2020 Presidential Election

Now that you know that it’s possible to wager on the 2020 presidential election without the law banging on your door, you might want to know about how betting on the election works specifically. What are the types of wagers you can make? And what do the odds mean? We answer that below.

Types of Bets

The most basic wager that you can make on the presidential election is a straight bet on which candidate will win. This is as simple as it gets. Bet on Biden or Trump directly, and you’ll win if you’re right when all is said and done.

But you can go beyond that to try one of the more exotic bets on the presidential election. These are often known as “proposition bets.” You can find odds on just about anything connected with this year’s election.

Betting On Political Candidates Results

For example, some popular prop bets on the 2020 presidential election this year include:

• When will the loser concede the election? This bet is popular this year because of the possibility that the election will drag out for several days due to the onslaught of expected mail-in ballots.
• What will the count of the Electoral College be? Many betting websites will set up what is known as an over/under total for how many electoral votes either candidate will win. You then have to decide whether the actual total will go over or under that number.
• Who will win the Senate? In addition to it being a tight presidential race, the control of the United States Senate appears to be up for grabs this year. That will make for a popular prop bet this year.

What the Odds Mean

When you see odds for the presidential election listed, you’ll usually see a plus or minus in front of the number. This is in reference to the moneyline, which is used by oddsmakers as a way of evening out the two sides. It’s common in sporting events.

The moneyline is always based on 100 units of whatever denomination you’ll be using. Whichever candidate has the minus sign in front of the odds is the favorite, while the one with the plus sign is the underdog. For example, at BetOnline.ag, the current odds for who will win the 2020 presidential election look like this:

What this means is that, if you bet on Biden—the current favorite—you would have to bet $200 to win $100 in return. By contrast, if you bet on President Trump, you would win $175 on a $100 wager.

You’ll likely see moneylines attached to all kinds of presidential election bets available on gambling websites, such as prop bets and over/unders. Always remember that big numbers in front of the minus or plus usually means a big favorite/underdog. The closer the numbers are to 100, the tighter the oddsmakers believe the race will be.

Conclusion

We know we threw a lot of information at you concerning betting on the 2020 presidential election. Let’s try to sum up what we’ve learned to this point:

• Whenever a bet of any kind is considered illegal, the target of legal scrutiny is usually the entity that takes the bet, not the bettor.
• Because of the Federal Wire Act and the concerns that advertising betting lines might influence voter turnout, you won’t be able to legally bet on the presidential election at any operator or website located within the United States.
• Websites outside of the United States will offer plenty of wagers on the presidential election.
• As long as you don’t have any problems funding your account, you should be able to bet on the election at reputable offshore gambling sites.
• There is a wide range of bets available for the US presidential election beyond just which candidate will win the presidency.
• There are plenty of moneyline bets for the presidential election, but there are props and over/unders, too.

We hope that you can now make an informed decision about whether or not you feel comfortable wagering on the presidential election this year. It has been a long campaign, which has caused a lot of controversy amongst the public. At the end of it all, we hope that if you do decide to wager on the outcome, you come up a winner.

While most people generally connect betting with the world of sports, the industry has gone through changes in recent years to where that notion is now changing. With the rise of social media involvement in the world of news and entertainment, certain things are being wagered that years ago never would have had a place at the betting window, such as betting on politics.

With both the political climate and gaming industry as hot as they have ever been, the two are now reflecting each other as a way for citizens to get involved in presidential races while using political betting sites to make a little money based off of their predictions.

Like betting on sports, political betting has several techniques and factors that vary depending on the situation and the value that is being shopped.

Best Political Betting Sites

As one gradually becomes more familiar with the processes and underlying factors of sports wagering they will realize that being able to trust the betting website they are on is one of the most important stages.

This is where another connection to the sports world comes into play, an online sportsbook (particularly the sites we recommend) often always have political odds posted, illustrating that the bookmaking process for both sports and politics is handled by the top industry professionals.

Betting on elections outcomes has grown so much in popularity that there are even instances where political betting steals some of the spotlight from the sports world, as the appeal is generally much more widespread when compared to sports.

The two very much benefit off of each other, as online sportsbooks give political betting a forum to exist in, where as the novelty of betting on elections and politicians draws in bettors who are not sports fans and would otherwise not be on that website.

Different Types of Political Betting

Odds to Win/ Future Bet: As if you were betting for this year’s Super Bowl or Heisman Trophy winner, this type of political bet involves wagering money on a listed moneyline price off the simple premise of who will win.

• Example: Andrew Yang is +1450 to win the 2020 Presidential Election
• Example: Elizabeth Warren has +200 odds to become the Deomcratic Nominee in the 2020 Presidential Election

Political Prop Betting: Like a sports prop, these are situation-based bets that are booked based off of potential results of an outcome. A price is given for both possible results of the prop listed, with the favorite being the more likely of the two results.

Example: Will Jair Bolsonaro complete his first presidential term?

• Yes (-300)
• No (+200)

Head to Head Bet: Comparable to the most well-known type of sports wager, this political bet features two opposing sides with odds attached to each. With this, one side is booked at favorite money with the other coming back with dog money. The bettor then chooses the side they believe will win, and if successful their resulting payout will be based off of the odds that were listed at political betting sites.

Example: US Presidential Election 2020 Winning Party:

• Democratic Party (-115)
• Republican Party (-115)

Political Props

Political prop betting has seen a huge spike in interest in recent years, predominantly do to the fact that it gives people a multi-layered scenario. Much like a football game, being able to bet on a hypothetical outcome of a real life situation leads to more opportunities to both walk away with money and find leisure in your political betting. Because of this, betting props is often considered a strategy all its own.

Here are a few examples of political prop bets:

Will Donald Trump be impeached and removed?

• Before 2020 Elections- Yes (+175)
• Before 2020 Elections- No (-250)

Will Donald Trump be elected to a 2nd term as POTUS?

• Yes (-230)
• No (+160)

Who will be the Republican nominee for the 2020 Presidential Election?

• Donald Trump (-800)
• Not Donal Trump (+500)

What Political Events Can You Bet On?

Once the “why” and “how” are clarified when considering political betting sites, the “what” becomes the focus as one must shop for not only a price that interests them, but a play.

Those who feel they have a tip on the local/regional scene may be more likely to bet for smaller elections, while the 2020 Presidential Election is going to be played more casually and frequently, especially as the race gradually tightens. Here are a few examples:

US Presidential Election

The most popular election to bet, odds are frequently posted and changed as stock for candidates rises and falls throughout the race. Handle naturally increases closer to election season when candidates become more solidified and political betting season is in full swing.

The 2020 Presidential Election currently has action on various political betting sites and will add more situational props and altered odds as the election gets closer. There have already been several odds changes due to debate performances, public reception, and late entries into the race.

Betting On Political Candidates Today

US Congressional Election

Not as popular on the political betting spectrum, there is still occasional handle that pours in for these. Those who are politically informed often have the know-how to handicap these less popular but still highly important, elections. Given how these are dependent on the state itself, Congressional Election bets are far more regional than national, as they lack the appeal of the betting on the Presidential Election.

The 2020 Congressional Election will see increases in action as the public grows more in tune with the House of Representatives nominees, but for now, value will be harder to find and odds will not be as sharp in lieu of the more popular Presidential Election.

Other Examples of Political Betting:

• British Parliament Election
• Referendums (Example: Brexit)
• Australian Parliament Election
• London Mayoral Election

Is Betting on Politics Legal?

Yes, it is allowed, regulated, and now live in many places. For United States residents, the safe political betting sites that we endorse are trustworthy, tested, and legal.

Depending on your location, you may not have the ability to place a bet on websites that are owned and operated by land-based sportsbooks, as the legalization of sports betting is state-based.

However, this has to do with the operation of the sportsbooks themselves, not any potential customers. So even if gambling is not legalized in your jurisdiction, that does not mean you can not make a bet online from the comfort of your home, regardless of location. This convenience is a big reason why mobile betting apps have exploded in popularity in just the past few years.

If the proper precautions were taken (making sure you signed up for a trustworthy site, have confirmed money in your account, etc…), you will have the green light (barring any technicalities) to bet without legal concerns, as the top political betting sites we utilize are not in the United States, making state-by-state control irrelevant.

Political Betting vs Other Types of Betting

There are parallels with betting politics and sports just as there are connections all throughout the gaming world.

As one becomes more informed and experienced however, noticing key differences becomes much easier. In political betting, less focus is placed on past results and more emphasis based on a candidate’s realistic chances.

This is due to the fact that it is hard to create a winning formula for something that is heavily based off of subjective opinion. The election of a president for example is a selective process, while a football or basketball game is not up to a vote by the population, but determined by athletes competing against each other with the intention of winning.

This is why when wagering sports, the concept of betting strategy becomes a thing of great importance and pride, as bettors often believe their strategic methods lead to a winning formula.

This takes a back seat in political betting. Yet, the baseline knowledge and the application of it in terms of making a bet are still very similar in sports and political betting.

This is why if a patron can grasp the simple concepts of odds and what purpose they serve, they will be able to crossover between sports, politics, and other fields pretty smoothly assuming that the knowledge and desire to bet are there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Really Make Money Betting on Politics?

Yes, if you time it right. There are enough bets posted to where a patron can clean house if they have handicapped the odds correctly. However, unlike sports, politics operates on a far more time-sensitive basis as there are only certain points in the calendar year where it holds relevance.

So in order to make money you must pick your spots wisely and understand the concept of value. If these are understood by the bettor, then money can consistently be made as at that point it is just applying basic gambling principles to a different topic.

How Do I Know if a Political Betting Site is Shady?

In the same way you can tell a sports gambling site is shady. At the end of the day, the bookies posting action on politics are the same people booking sporting events, so their business models and practices will very much be identical, especially when you consider that the majority of the best political prices are found on online sports betting sites.

How Can I Place a Bet Right Now on Donald Trump to Be Impeached?

A play like this serves as a type of prop bet that is found on many of the online political betting sites we have tested. In order to place money on it, make sure you have an account on the website of your choosing and have deposited your money.

As long as these boxes are checked, you will then have the freedom to bet on the aforementioned prop and several other president-related specials currently available. This prop is specific to current headlines in the news cycle, so availability of props bets like this is very much dependent on the individual who is being booked in said bet and what they’re currently dealing with. As shown earlier, this exact prop is currently on the board at MyBookie.ag.

[ Back to Top ↑ ]