Top Five Tips For Betting On Politics
In addition to betting on politics, you would have to approach it the same way you would bet on sports. You are going to need to have a strategy and a method to best limit your risk. The top five betting tips for politics are:
- Find a sportsbook
- Know how to read odds
- Prop bets
- Handicapping your bet
- Bankroll
Find A Sportsbook
To start things off the right foot, you need to find a sportsbook. You need one that will handle all of your betting needs and desires without having to search for something else.
Most sportsbooks offer incentives or a welcome bonus to a new user. You can take advantage of this and play with “free money” when placing a bet.
You also need to compare and contrast several different sportsbooks to get an idea of who is the best. Once you narrow it down to two of them, then those are going to be the ones you need to pick.
Know How To Read Odds
As with any sport or event you bet on, you are going to have odds. These odds will determine what you pay to guess at a specific outcome and what your payout will be. Let us look at the following example:
2020 U.S. Presidential Election Odds: Winning Party
- Democrat: +130
- Republican: -185
The favorites are always represented by the minus sign and underdogs with the plus sign. With odds at +130 for Democrats, oddsmakers are giving them nearly a 42 percent shot of winning the election.
If you were to bet $100 and they did win, you would receive $230 total, since you win back your investment plus the $130.
On the other side, oddsmakers are giving the Republican Party roughly a 64 percent chance at staying in office. You would have to wager $185 first, and if they win, you would receive $100 in profit. Since they are considered the favorite, you have to shell out a little more money up front for this.
Keep in mind that these odds will dramatically change over the year leading up to the event. As you can see, the Democratic betting option is considered riskier since they are not the favorite to win.
Therefore, the payout is much higher, and you do not have to fork over as much right off the bat, but you risk losing that investment.
Prop Bets on Politics
With your typical sports bets, you have various options to choose from the types of bets you can make. In betting on politics, you only have one type of bet you can make, and that is propositional bets, or “props.”
These are bets that do not match with the outcome of the election but could still influence voters. Rather, it makes for an interesting way to look at betting in general since you do not just go with who is going to win for a bet.
Examples of prop bets:
- How long will the debate be between X and Y?
- How many seats will the GOP win?
- How often will candidate X discuss their health-care plan?
- Which party will win the popular vote?
Handicapping Your Bet
Since there is no total score, turnovers, or steals to look at, you have to look at different research for your prop bets. You are essentially betting on the policies.
Scandals: If a rumor or gossip gets bad enough, it could completely hinder a candidate from being elected. This is not always the case, but it is usually a bad sign if someone has a bad history with a scandal.
Leadership: Another thing to look for is past performance and their leadership. Is the candidate respected in their current role? How have they performed in the past? These could point to the person being elected.
Injuries or illness: If a candidate is not at their best or appears weak to the public, this could mess with their chances. Just like sports, if you are unable to be at your best you cannot perform well.
Anything else: These include promises, lies, and offers to the public. How good will a candidate speak during a debate to talk their way into office? Whether they mean to or not, candidates try to do everything under the sun to talk a big game to get elected.
Bankroll
Finally, you need to make sure you have the money to bet on events. Money management is the key to long term betting success and keeping your cash flow intact.
Rule of thumb is if you could not lose the money in the first place, then you definitely should not be gambling with it. Being a successful bettor will depend on your money management.