Top 5 Political Betting Sites
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes are a big name in the bookmaker industry and with good reason. Whatever you’re looking to place a wager on, you’re likely to find it at Ladbrokes. Here’s just some of what makes them a top bet when you're thinking about betting on politics soon:
✅Pros:
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New customer offer - Bet £5 get £20 in Free bet stakes.
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Huge range of US, UK and International betting markets to choose from.
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Exciting range of specials markets for any bets that are a bit different.
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Request odds for your own market not listed, with Ladbroke’s #GetAPrice feature.
Bet365
Bet365 is an established name in the political betting sites and has a user-friendly website, making it easy for you to place your bets. There are plenty of markets on offer and some pretty sweet bonuses too, to give you a bit more money for your time. Here are some of their other plus points:
✅Pros:
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New users get £50 in Free bet stakes upon £10 qualifying bet settlement.
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They offer political bets on all of the main politics markets, including UK, US and Australian politics.
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Huge range of deposit and withdrawal options.
Paddy Power
While it’s not immediately obvious that Paddy Power offers bets on politics, pop the word ‘politics’ into their search bar and you’ll find a range of political betting markets at your disposal. They also offer various bonuses for both new and existing customers, to sweeten their offering. Paddy Power is definitely worth a look.
✅Pros:
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New customer offer: Bet £10 and get it back as cash if it loses.
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Existing customers receive £20 cash when they refer a friend.
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Worldwide political betting odds on many markets available, including Brazil!
888Sport
With a more streamlined range of markets on offer, 888Sport has a fairly limited range of politicas betting on the betting site at the moment. However, it’s not all bad news. If you intend to start betting on politics then they do have some pretty good offers and an intuitive interface to enhance your betting experience.
✅Pros:
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Offers odds on US and UK politics.
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New customers get £30 in Free bet stakes plus a £10 casino bonus after qualifying bet settlement.
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Bet Builder, Bet Feed and Bet Finder tools.
Coral
An established player in the bookmaker industry, Coral is a political betting UK site, with a huge range of markets, so you can be confident of finding the perfect wager for you. Here’s some other perks of their offering:
✅Pros:
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New customers get a £20 in Free bets when you bet £5.
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Popular deposit and withdrawal methods available.
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Wide range of UK and international markets available for anyone betting on politics.
UK Political Betting: Which Markets Are Available
So, what can you actually wager on, when it comes to political betting? Well, obviously this depends on what is going on in the world, politically, at the time you want to take your punt.
General elections only tend to happen once every four years, although there often seems to be one happening somewhere in the world! There do tend to be smaller political events happening regularly, so you’ll always be able to find something to put your money on. Politics betting sites understandably do not price up events that are too far in the future. But let’s check out some of the markets that you can normally bet on.
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The winner of a General election (Party or Person).
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The winner of a By-election (Party or Person).
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When a politician will resign or be removed from their post.
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The next Prime minister or President, at any time.
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The year of the next election.
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Whether a party will win with a clear majority (or not).
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The next permanent leader of any party of your choosing.
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Which party will win the most seats in the General election.
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When the president will be impeached.
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The vote share of local or General elections.
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The voter turnout (as a percentage).
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The winner of mayoral elections.
Various specials are also available, for example, you can take a punt on whether or not Meghan Markle will be President of the United States by 2065, for example. The best political betting sites will allow you to request specific markets if what you want is not available at the moment.
How to Choose the Best Politics Betting Site
When selecting the best online political betting sites, there are a number of factors that we consider. We want you, the punter, to have the best political betting experience possible, so here are some of the things we’re looking out for. You might want to consider these when searching for the perfect political betting website for you.
Deposit & Withdrawals
There’s nothing worse when trying to place your bet than having to muck about moving funds into a particular payment method in order to deposit cash into your account. So we look for political betting sites that offer a good range of funding methods, such as debit cards and a range of E-wallets. As for withdrawals, most sites insist that you use the method you deposited with to pay your money back onto. It can generally take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days to see your money back in your account. (Of course, you could choose to keep your winnings in your bookmaker account and use it for future wagers.)
Diversity of Bonuses
Who doesn’t love a bonus? Bonuses can help you to maximise your winnings on your chosen wager, so we always like to see what the bookmakers have to offer when it comes to bonuses for political betting. Many bookies offer initial deposit bonuses up to a certain percentage, for example, it could be 50% on a £200 deposit. Others offer a Free bet, which matches the value of your initial bet, or specific prizes for betting on certain markets. Whatever bonus you choose to take advantage of, make sure you read the terms and conditions carefully. Often you’re required to place a certain number of bets or wager a particular amount of money before you can withdraw.
Range of Markets
As we have already mentioned before when you are betting on politics there are a large range of possible political bets that you may be interested in. It is essential that the politics betting site you play at has the markets that you want, accept the stakes that you want, and have competitive odds. They should obviously cover the major political events in depth but also look at the less mainstream politics betting markets.
Customer Support
Excellent customer service is always important, particularly so when you are betting on politics. If something goes wrong or you have a problem, you need to speak to someone and have it resolved straight away. The best political betting websites will have 24/7 support available via live chat or email or phone, to sort out any issues before they become a problem. No hassle, no stress.
Politics Betting Tips
One of the biggest challenges when betting on politics is that the individual markets themselves can be so varied, and all of them unpredictable. I’m sure you can think of many surprising election outcomes from across the past decade, Hilary Clinton losing to Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election for example. This innate unpredictability makes it hard for punters to develop a consistent strategy.
We’re here to make your life easier. So having considered all of the above, we’ve come up with some tips to help you form your own strategy for success. Without further ado, here are our top three political betting tips.
Don’t (necessarily) bet on your favourite candidate
This might sound daft, but don’t bet on the candidate or party that you like the most, just because you like them. The majority of the voting population might not feel the same way! Instead, take the time to do your research and try to judge how everybody else feels before you make your wager.
While it might be tempting to back your preferred political party, be sensible. Don’t rely on opinion polls as the results of these can often turn out to be false, as we’ve found in many votes in recent times - how can we forget Brexit?! Polls are problematic because they only sample the opinions of very small groups of the general population, and as a consequence, their limited sample size makes their results unreliable.
Instead, analyse statistics, reliable news sources and views from all parts of the political spectrum, not just one. Also, don’t assume that the most-stated viewpoint will be the correct one. Take care to remain objective and don’t allow your personal views to cloud your judgement. Make sure you understand the ins and outs of the election process that you’re gambling on and think carefully before you place your bets.
Place your bets early
Once you’re sure that you are ready to begin betting on politics then it’s worth placing your bet nice and early, in order to get more bang for your buck. Put simply, the earlier you place your bet, the more favourable the odds are likely to be. You’re far less likely to gain much value from a last minute punt when it comes to political betting.
If we’re looking at UK politics for example, consider a general election. In this instance, you’ll get more value from your wager by betting early because odds get closer to true value as time goes on and (it is believed that) public opinion can be gauged more accurately. You’ll get a lot more potential value out of a general election punt, by placing your bet as far as a year before the event.
The same applies to US politics. If you’re betting on a specific candidate in a Presidential election, for example, the earlier you place your bet, the higher the odds will be for your selection, due to the fact that there are initially such a large range of candidates in the race. At the moment you can get odds of 5/1 on Joe Biden and 11/4 on Donald Trump. This will not be the case in 2024. This applies to most US political betting markets where the number of candidates narrows dramatically as we reach the final vote; for example elections, primaries and Senate seats. The same can also be said for UK markets when taking a punt on the next political party leader or similar markets.
So, to recap, place your bet at least a few months before any election takes place. The best political betting sites will price up events several years away, and this will help you to get the best odds and therefore the best value from your carefully chosen wager. The odds on Donald Trump to win the 2016 US Presidential Election were 200/1 from at least one gambling site when he first announced that he was running.
Look for value
When you are betting on politics, first consider whether the markets offered are truly going to offer any value. If the result seems like a done deal, it’s unlikely that it’s going to offer you any real value, and so you’re better off not betting at all.
Understandably, punters will usually favour the most obvious winner when placing their bets. But of course, it’s only natural that the odds offered by political betting websites will reflect this, and this is something that you must consider when betting on politics.
Are the online sportsbooks offering you political betting odds that are good value? There’s no point placing a bet with odds reflecting a 90% chance of winning, when realistically you think that candidate only has a 60% chance. In this instance, a smaller wager on an underdog could well provide better value. Of course, a wager like this also has a much smaller chance of coming in but it is still the better bet! The important thing here is whether you’re happy that the odds you’re being offered reflect what you feel to be good value at the time you’re placing your bet. This is something that only you can decide for yourself.
How to Bet on Politics and Elections
If you’ve ever wagered on sports betting markets before, then you can be rest assured that betting on politics is pretty much exactly the same. There’s no great secret, or special method for placing a political punt online.
However, if online betting is a new and exciting world to you or if you’re feeling a little unsure about how to go about placing your bet, then fear not! We have laid out the whole process for you in this handy step by step guide. Simply take your time, follow the steps below and get your bets placed!
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Register an account with the online bookmaker you wish to use (you can refer back to our handy guide to the best political bookmakers if you need help choosing). Of course, you can skip this step if you already have an account with a bookmaker that already offers betting markets.
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If you don’t yet have any funds in your account, then deposit money using your preferred deposit method. Most online political bookmakers accept debit cards, and the well-known E-wallets. The process is very similar to making any other online purchase.
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Now it’s time to find a political betting market. They may be listed alongside the other sports markets, or may have a tab under ‘specials’. Alternatively, on some political betting sites you can use the search bar to search ‘politics’ to access the relevant markets.
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As with sports markets, you can select the market you wish to bet on, then insert the amount of money you wish to wager in the online betting slip. These are usually to the right hand side of the screen, or they pop up when you click on the market that you wish to wager on.
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Now it’s time to play the waiting game! If you’ve been following our advice, you’ll know that typically, wagers on political markets are placed months in advance of the event, so you may have to wait a while to see if your punt has paid off. The top political betting sites will credit your winnings within minutes of bet settlement, so the money should be with you the very next day.
Top betting sites
By Events: Politics | WWE | NRL Grand Final | MLB World Series | Euro 2024
Frequently Asked Questions
There are loads of great political betting websites to choose from. If you’re looking to find one of the best, then fear not, we’ve done our research so you don’t have to. If you’d like to see our top picks, then scroll up to see our favourites.
Absolutely. Placing a bet on any political betting markets with a licensed UK bookmaker is 100% legal. Not only that, but any winnings from bets placed are also tax-free.
Betting on politics is illegal in the USA though, so make sure your chosen bookie is licensed in the UK (which ALL bookmakers on this site are).
You certainly can. Understandably, most UK bookies will be aimed at British users and so UK political markets will be most common. However, there is always a lot of interest in US elections in this country, and so US political markets and indeed worldwide political markets can also be found.
Online bookmakers nearly always offer Welcome bonuses for new customers. These could be in the form of Free bets, a winnings boost, or cash credit upon qualifying bet settlement. Nearer to specific political events you may find certain bookmakers target people betting on politics and offer specific bonuses offers but it will vary from bookmaker to bookmaker.
The bonuses offered by online sportsbooks can usually be used for political bets. Always read the terms and conditions carefully though as there may be restrictions regarding your qualifying bet and also Free bets can be subject to a time limit. Remember that politics betting is often a long term thing and you will not know the outcome of your wagers until the betting sites settle the bets months or even years away. Politics betting websites will have the same Welcome bonus T&C's as any other site and there is a chance your qualifying bet and Free bet and any bonuses must all settle quite quickly, perhaps only 7 days, so double check if there is enough time for your bets to be valid.
