How to Bet on UK Politics
UK political betting is as easy as betting on any of your favourite sports, and is quite similar to sports betting, in that it is an informed bet where – with enough research – political punters can have an edge over the odds. That’s why many bettors value these more controlled wagers over games of chance.
What to Bet on
Most bookies offer punts on a whole range of political events, and we’ll take you through those operators a little later on. The question is which political event to put your money on, and when to make that wager. When an election is coming up, the betting options explode into the stratosphere, so it’s handy to know what to look for and be prepared.
What exactly can you bet on? Well, at a glance there’s a collection of events with their own shifting odds and options, ranging from the next Prime Minister, with conservative member Rishi Sunak leading the pack, to election and referendum dates, to the next Scottish First Minister. Here’s a list of current events from UK operator Ladbrokes:
- Next UK Prime Minister
- Boris Johnson Specials
- Next Conservative Party Leader
- Scottish First Minister
- 2021 Welsh Assembly Elections
- 2021 London Mayoral Election
- Next Scottish Parliamentary Election
- Next Scottish Independence Referendum
- Next UK General Election
- Next Labour Party Leader
Within each event, there are a whole host of betting options from the more concrete to the totally left-field. One of the bets with the best British politics odds include wagering on political commentator Piers Morgan with 500/1 odds to become the next Prime Minister, an outcome not totally impossible considering Trump’s rise in the USA.
When to Bet on British Politics?
When dealing with UK political odds, timing is everything. You might have a solid hunch that Rishi Sunak will become the next Prime Minister in a few years time, yet there might be some unexpected event (*cough* coronavirus *cough*) that puts the Tories out of favour. There’s always the crazy real world to contend with when wagering on current events, where anything might happen.
Just like sports betting, political punters must hold one thing above all else: research. You have to know your stuff before playing the odds and coming out on top. The only way to confidently play on the British political odds is by researching and taking your time to know the news as it happens.
The most unlikely candidates are always in for a shot, and the underdogs always have the best British political odds. What’s more, the underdogs one year out of an election may become the favourites with a week to go, so if you wager early, you can turn 2/1 odds into 500/1!
Where Can I Bet on UK Politics?
If you’re looking to capitalise on your insider knowledge or chase that hunch, look no further than online sportsbooks. Many of these classic sportsbook operators have expanded their scope into politics and other world events such as the no.1 Christmas song on the charts and who takes out the next Academy Awards.
The online sportsbooks that you’ll need to keep an eye on for the best UK politics odds are the bookies that cater to the UK market. They’re the most likely to have the wide range of betting options and depth of the UK political scene that international bookies just don’t have. Here’s a list of the top ones to check out:
As we mentioned before, UK political betting is a lot like sports betting, so for the relevant bets and odds listings you can find the UK politics odds and options alongside the sports section, featuring the likes of NFL, Aussie Rules, and football, usually listed under politics.
Betting on elections in the UK (and around the world) in the 20th Century were mostly kept to historically informal and illegal wagers placed among friends or with your local under the table bookie. The odds varied from market to market as political betting wasn’t institutionalised. It wasn’t until the advent and spread of the internet with its high-speed communications that betting markets could merge on the internet and sportsbook betting boomed. These sportsbook operators used their betting licenses to begin offering wagers on other widespread events such as those UK political ones. Political betting in the UK has now become so institutionalised that commercial TV stations and news outlets use betting odds to represent real likelihoods of election results, and even use the odds for the viewing public to track the course of the election! It’s worth mentioning that with any particular event, politics, sports, or even the Christmas no.1, the betting odds are the opinion of the general betting public. Each wager that is made on the outcome affects the odds, driving down the odds of that outcome happening, suggesting it is more likely. Even just one person’s bet can drastically affect the odds. If one person makes a huge wager on one outcome, then the odds of that outcome will plummet. More bettors may share the opinion of another outcome, but the opinion of one person, and the impact of their wallet, changes the odds more. This is due to the fact that sportsbook operators are essentially a business, and look to make money providing punters with their own opportunities to win. These bookies seek to have even money spread across all betting outcomes, so as to minimise their losses when they pay out, and the odds will adjust accordingly. It’s crucial to know how bookies work to understand the story that odds can tell! Betting on the outcome of British political events is quite easy to do, thanks to the proliferation of online sportsbooks that provide punters with the means to put money down and win big. Where the real challenge comes is in the ability to make an informed betting decision by both becoming a news junkie and knowing how to read the odds. The Odds Tell a Story
Easy to Bet, Hard to Master
