Election Betting – Bet on the Presidential Election & More

Election betting might not be one of the first things you think of when it comes to online betting, but it’s one of the craziest sectors for any betting site. There are tons of elations and markets to bet on all around the world and we’re going to bring you some of the highlights within this article.

You may be aware that election betting in the US is illegal. However, this is only for sites that are in the US. We’re going to show you a range of offshore betting sites that are legal for US residents to join and place bets on elections.

Best Election Betting Sites

Below we’ve included a list of what we think are the best election betting sites. Within the list are 10 betting sites that each differ in terms of what they offer within their betting package.

The list should be used as a guide for you to choose the best election betting site. Later in the article, we’ve done mini-reviews on the top five sites to use where you can find out more information about what makes each of them tick.

What is Election Betting?

Just about all countries around the world have some sort of election. This is where votes are held to elect persons and parties into power. It’s their role to make the major decisions, be it in that state, country, or region.

Election betting allows you to place real money bets on different parts of an election. For example, when the US betting presidential election is running, you can bet on who will be voted in to be President of the United States for that term.

Betting on the election is incredibly popular. There are tons of markets to choose from and it’s a great way to use your knowledge on how people may vote to make money.

A slight caveat in the United States is that election betting is prohibited. Laws state that you cannot bet on any election when you’re based in the US with any betting site that is also located in the US.

You may be wondering now if election betting in the US is illegal? Well, if you were to use a betting site in the US, then the answer would be yes. But you can access betting sites that are located outside of the US to legally bet on elections.

These betting sites are referred to as offshore betting sites. The sites are located all over the world and accept players in the US. This page includes the best betting sites for election betting in the US.

In terms of legalities, there are no laws to state that you cannot bet on elections as a US resident on sites that are located offshore.

How to Bet on the Election

The process of betting on an election is one that is very simple to follow. All of the betting sites provide a simple navigation process that allows you to jump between markets and bets with ease.

If you’re new to election betting, then we wanted to help you find where you need to be with a work-through example. Election markets can be a little trickier to find than most regular sports, so we wanted to give you a helping hand for this.

To do this, we’re going to be using BetOnline and we regard them as the best in the business for betting on elections.

Step 1 – Open an Account

To place a bet and to get access to election markets, you’re going to need to open an account. This should only take a couple of minutes and you’ll then have full access to the BetOnline site.

New accounts will get access to a $1,000 welcome bonus at BetOnline. This offer is based on a 50% match of your first deposit and is open to all new accounts. It comes with a 10x wagering attached and you can use election betting markets to clear this.

Step 2 – Use the Menu System to find “Politics”

BetOnline uses a simple dropdown menu system that you can access from the main menu section. Simply click on “All Sports” and then jump to “Other Sports” before landing on “Politics”.

It’s under this heading that you will find anything and everything to do with election betting. Most other betting sites usually have the same markets under a politics heading, so bear this in mind if you’re accessing another site.

Step 3 – Choose Your Market and Place Your Bet

Once you’ve found where you need to be, you can now choose the market that you want to bet on and then place your bet. In our example, we’ve chosen the 2022 French Presidential Election.

To place the bet all you need to do is click on the odds. Here you can see that Emmanuel Macron is priced at -350. Just click on the “-350” odds and this will add the bet to your bet slip.

Once the bet is in your slip choose how much you want to bet and click place bet. You can jump into your account history to see bets that are open and track any bets that you’ve placed.

Election Betting Markets

Election betting is a huge amount of fun. Most people don’t realize that you can bet on elections to start with, but the highlight is the range of markets.

Lots of the betting markets are straightforward, but there are plenty that is great fun. Did you know that you can even bet on leaders to win a charity boxing match if they were to partake in one? It’s a crazy world we live in right now, but this might just take the biscuit!

Party Winner

The party winner bet is the most popular and you’re going to see this from all the election betting sites that we recommend. For this bet, you need to bet on the party that will win the overall election.

In the US this market may change a little depending on who you bet with, but a general bet would be on a democrat or republican victory. The number of seats or by how many are not relevant for this.

The only time that a spanner may be thrown into the works is when there is a hung parliament. In the UK this is reasonably common and it’s where one party doesn’t get enough votes for a majority and instead needs to form a coalition with another party.

Party Nominee

All parties in an election will have a nominee which is classed as the leader for that party. In the US this will be the head of either the democrats or republicans. In the UK it would be the leader of the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party, and several others.

By betting on the person to lead that part the result of the elections is not relevant. All you need is for your pick to be voted in to win the bet.

Presidential Election

As a follow-up to the Party Nominee winner, you can simply bet outright on who will be the next president for a country. This takes away any party link and you just pick from a long list of potential runners.

Take the time to look at some of the longer-priced bets for this, as the entertainment factor is brilliant. Kanye West, anybody? Priced at just +25000, the same as Lebron James and Oprah Winfrey.

Senate Elections

The senate elections are huge for state betting and these are some of the most hotly contested bets that you can get for elections. Like the presidential election, you’re betting on Republicans or Democrats to lead each state. You can also bet on the leaders for each party within those states, just like you would the president.

Betting is much closer when it’s per state than it is for an overall winner. The last couple of elections in the United States has been, eventful, shall we say, but state betting is usually a little more predictable.

Indictments

You read that right! Most betting sites will allow you to bet on the next person to be indicted, which is a crazy market to even get started in. We all know that politicians can “bend the rules” with the best of them, but usually, when they do, they get found out.

Indictments markets tend to bet linked to the US, but they can include elections from around the world. This occurs more often than you think, so the market is generally one that is pretty active.

Individual Betting

You’re going to get the chance to bet on a range of markets that are linked to single persons of power. Most betting sites include markets on Joe Biden and Donald Trump, as at the time of writing, they are the highest-profile politicians in the US. But depending on when you’re reading this, the names may change, however, the markets will remain the same.

Some of the markets that you can bet on are hilarious. As we mentioned earlier, a boxing match between Trump and Biden (Trump is a strong favorite FYI!) tops the bill. Also, you can bet on if one or both will win the mid-terms, if they will become a speaker in the house, exit dates for their exiting roles and if they will complete a full term or not.

Even though some of these markets are tongue in cheek, there’s a lot of value to bet had with the individual bets and shouldn’t be overlooked.

How to Read Election Betting Odds

Election betting odds work in the same way as if you were betting on any other market, be it politics or sports. Each betting site sets a price for that bet and if it wins, then you make some money.

The amount of money that you can win is based on the amount you stake and the odds that are offered by the betting site.

Above we’ve included a typical example of what an election betting market would look like. As you can see, this is the election for the next Brazilian betting odds President.

If we just take the top two candidates for the purpose of this example, we see that the election betting odds of Lula da Silva is priced at -275 and Jair Bolsonaro at +350.

The first thing to note here is that each price has either a + or – sign. The + represents the amount of money you win for every $100 staked. The – is the amount you need to stake to make a $100 profit.

Here you would need to bet $275 to make $100 on da Silva to win, and you would make $375 for every $100 staked if you went with Bolsonaro.

Election Betting in Other Countries

Spending just a short amount of time looking around election betting sites will highlight that coverage extends much further than just US presidential election betting. We’ve already included several of these in our examples throughout this page.

Other countries include Australia, Brazil, France, Philippines, Germany, Spain, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Russia, and the UK.

UK Election Betting

The UK has one of the biggest followings outside of the US and whilst the country may be relatively small, the importance of their general election is massive.

In the UK the number of parties that operate throughout is vast. There are 11 that have representatives in the House of Commons and five more that are not in the House of Commons but have representatives in other UK legislatures.

Betting is generally targeted around the main General Election vote. Here you can bet on the party to win and spread bets on majority votes. Some betting sites allow you to bet on majorities of smaller parties that won’t necessarily win the election but still count as votes toward the overall win.

What’s important to note in the UK is that every vote matters. All parties in the House of Commons have representatives, but the General Election merely states how many seats each party gets. The more seats, the more power they have. Seat betting is another popular bet for UK politics.

A great market for the UK is live election betting odds. Markets run through the night and can be incredibly exciting for this reason alone.

French Election Betting

France works in much the same way as the United States does in that, they elect a president who leads the country. Unlike the US, France also has Prime Ministers and work within parliaments with Senates who report to local government offices.

Betting wise the range of markets is more limited than say, the UK. Generally, you won’t find much more than the next president, the length of the term they will serve and who will replace them.

Election Betting Sites Reviewed

We’ve mentioned several election betting sites throughout this article, but we wanted to take the time to give a little bit more information on who we think are the best election betting odds.

Use the mini-reviews below to work out which betting site is best suited for you as they are not all equal and it’s not always a case of one being better than another for all players.

1. Bovada  – Best Looking Election Betting App and Online Site

Bovada is the best-looking betting site for election betting. It’s clean, with next to no clutter, and is very easy to navigate around and between betting markets.

Election coverage is generally very good. They tend to come to life nearer the time that elections take place, so if you’re looking to get into future bets early, then one of the two above is likely a better option.

However, once betting lines are live, prices are usually exceptional. Bovada is well known to have a wide range of bets for recreational players, so bets for favorites are generally lower in value. The flip side is that longer-priced bets are better valued than just about every betting site we’ve tested.

Coverage across Europe is where they excel. US coverage is good, but you’re looking more at markets like the next US president, party winners, and party candidates, than some of the prop bets that you can access elsewhere.

The welcome offer at Bovada is worth up to $1,000. It’s a 100% match and comes with a 30x clearing rate and 30-day expiry on the bonus.

2. BetOnline – Best Overall for Election Betting

BetOnline lands the top spot in our election betting test. Their market coverage is the biggest asset here and not only do they cover a huge range of elections from around the world, but they also have the most bets that you can place from within any of the betting sites.

It’s not just a case of betting on the winning party, although this is a staple for each country that is represented. On top of this, you get to bet on markets such as party winners, indictments, house representatives, senate elections, mayoral races, and governor races.

You also get a great range of payment options, such as Visa, Bitcoin, Discover, American Express, and Person to Person. Betting limits are high, capped at $10,000 for politics and minimum deposits start from just $10.

The welcome offer is worth up to $1,000 and is a 50% match. You have 30 days to wager the bonus 10x before it expires, making it one of the lowest wagering requirements that you can get.

3. Everygame – Election Betting Fixed Odds

With Everygame, there are fixed odds on a wide range of elections from different areas. You won’t only be able to wager on the US presidential race, but on polls from Europe and other countries as well.

Players can choose from a range of bonuses for crypto and card deposit deals, each with its own Everygame promo code used to unlock. While the bookie has numerous ongoing promos, there’s rarely a tailored bonus for election betting.

Credit cards, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, & Litecoin, and wire transfers allow you to fund your gambling. Bigger ranges of payment methods are available with other providers.

An FAQs section is the main form of customer support, meanwhile, with questions and answers on various topics. Live Chat is also available around the clock.

4. MyBookie – Best for European Election Coverage

MyBookie is another massive brand in the US and doesn’t fall too far behind BetOnline in terms of coverage of election betting. Whilst they are good, they aren’t as strong, which is why BetOnline pips them to the post on this one.

That being said, as a standalone betting site, their election coverage is excellent. They cover elections from Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, the UK, and the US exceptionally well.

In terms of odds, they offer better value than BetOnline for most of the favorites. Moneyline bets are exceptionally strong, and we were impressed with the range of props, such as length of term in office, party victories, and even percentage of votes in areas like the UK and states in the US.

New accounts can get a generous MyBookie promo code, one of the biggest welcome offers you can get.

4. BetNow – Best Value Election Betting Welcome Bonus

BetNow is smaller than the betting sites above, but still offers a more than a decent range of election markets. It’s a strong covering for US politics in general, with bets like Presidential races and Senator races being the top markets within the sportsbook.

What BetNow likes to run are two-way markets for their prop bets. These include questions, usually answered with a yes or a no. Things like will Joe Biden see a second term and will Donald Trump run for President in 2024, as examples.

The international section for elections is not as strong, however, they are good for international politics, just election races seem to be limited, which is odd. Prop bets like the next reigning monarch of England and French President bets are popular at the time of writing.

New accounts will enjoy a welcome bonus, smaller compared with others, but coming with just low rollover conditions, making it one of the easiest to clear and most accessible.

Election Betting Tips

When it comes to predicting the next President, the election betting markets can be an early indicator of who might win the race. Bettors can use other information to their advantage in order to make savvy predictions and capitalize on early odds.

Below, we’ll give away from US election betting tips that can help bettors make smarter decisions when predicting the US Presidential race. You can use the sames tips for any other election as the strategies are usually the same.

Monitor The Latest News

Bettors can gain a better understanding of which candidates are on the rise by monitoring the latest news. While every news organization presents information with a slight bias, bettors can use the latest news and spins to their advantage. When breaking news happens, there are times when bettors can capitalize on odds at the sportsbooks before they start to adjust.

Keep An Eye On Think Tanks And Polls

While the think tanks and polls aren’t always correct, they can help provide a more accurate picture than some of the mainstream news networks. FiveThirtyEight and the Quinnipiac Poll are among the most popular and most accurate polls in the US. Voting polls can help bettors understand what issues are important to voters, how divided Americans are on key political issues, and which candidates are becoming more favorable in the eyes of the American public.

Remove Personal Political Bias 

When betting on the US Presidential Election, Canadians need to remove their own personal political bias from the equation. Just like sports betting, members need to be smart and bet with their mind instead of their heart. No matter how bettors feel about certain candidates on a personal level, they must remove their own preconceived opinions when putting their money on the line.

Stick To What You Know

Even the polls and analysts can get things wrong. Instead of backing popular predictions, bettors should stick to the issues and candidates that they understand the most. Bettors can also use their environment and the people around them to gain a sense of whether the polls are an accurate representation of how the public is thinking.

Trends And Cycles

Every election, certain trends and cycles emerge that can help bettors predict what will happen next. While a presidential candidate might have a high approval rating at the beginning of their campaign, those numbers may wane over the course of the election process. Bettors can monitor trends and cycles to capitalize on increased odds and make more accurate predictions in the US Election betting market.

Previous Elections Data 

While the past isn’t always indicative of the future, previous elections data can be helpful when predicting current events. With more accurate data coming from key swing states, bettors can use past elections data to gain a better understanding of the probability that one candidate might win over another.

Campaign Spending Figures & Airtime

Campaign spending is another key factor when it comes to betting on the US Presidential Election. As bettors saw with Donald Trump’s lengthy and expensive campaign tour in 2016, campaign spending and airtime in the media can go a long way towards swaying voters that are on the fence. While campaign spending alone isn’t indicative of who will win, bettors can compare campaign spending figures, airtime, and other factors to have a better idea of which candidates are staying on the minds of American voters.

 

Laws of Election Betting

Election betting has a blanket ban in the US. Laws state that US residents are not permitted to bet on any election or political betting markets.

There is a big “however” that we need to apply here. You see, the law is in place for US residents betting on betting sites that are in the US. This means that the sites are licensed and regulated in the US market.

Federal law doesn’t include anything about US residents being able to bet on sites that are located outside of the country. These are often referred to as offshore betting sites.

This means that you can bet on elections with these sites without the risk of facing any federal or state prosecution. All the sites that we reference on this page are offshore and they all accept players from the US.

A question that you’re likely thinking is if this is all legal or not? The answer is that it is not illegal to do this and there has been no single prosecution in the US for players betting on offshore betting sites. Granted, this is a loophole, but this is by no means illegal.

Can You Bet on the Election in Vegas?

Another question that we get asked is can you bet on the election in Vegas? The answers lie in the same category as the information we provided in the section above.

It’s not legal to bet on the election with betting sites or bookmakers that are in Las Vegas and Nevada. This would once again fall under state and federal law that prohibits betting on politics or elections.

If you are in Vegas, you will be able to choose Vegas election odds on any offshore betting site, like you would if you were in any state. Vegas odds on elections outcomes are not something that is accessible within the state but is accessible online with offshore sites.

Election Betting – Conclusion

Election betting is one of the most understated markets that you can access. It’s not one of the first things that you think of when it comes to online betting, but the range of markets and the sheer audacity of some of the bets you can place make it one of the most exciting areas of any betting site.

The US market has a huge range of bets that you can access, but make sure that you look at other countries, such as the UK and France. They both have a huge following in the US and betting markets are reflective of this.

We’ve been able to provide a good range of election betting odds and sites for you to legally use as a US resident, with the standout betting that of BetOnline. Not only do they have the biggest range of election betting markets, but they also include a massive $1,000 in bonus cash for new accounts.

Election Betting FAQ

Is it legal to bet on elections?

It’s not legal to bet on elections using betting sites that are in the US. You can, however, access betting sites that are located offshore as no laws are in place to suggest you can’t use these.

How do I legally bet on the 2024 election?

To bet on the 2024 election you need to use an offshore betting site like BetOnline. Once you’ve created an account you can place real money wagers on a range of markets including the overall winner and the length of term the president will remain in office for.

Where can I bet on the election?

If you are a US resident, then you need to bet on sites located offshore. These betting sites will allow you to create an account and place bets on elections all over the world.

Can you bet on the presidential election?

Yes, you can bet on the presidential election by using an offshore betting site. This gives you access to dozens of markets such as the next president winner, party winner and the length of term they will stay in office for.