How to make money in political betting?

Ever since a man named David Threlfall bet £10 that a man would walk on a celestial body before 1970 at odds of 1,000/1 back in 1964, novelty bets have been gaining in popularity, with novelty markets now offered at all major bookmakers. And while people continue to place wagers on prime time TV shows and current affairs, political betting has somewhat surprisingly caught on among punters from all over the globe. After both EU referendum in the UK and 2016 US Presidential Election attracted huge volume of bets, we felt the need to try and give you some pointers on how to make money by betting on political events.

Backing the underdogs could pay off

If you are one of those bettors who enjoy backing the underdogs in sporting events, then you should definitely deploy the same strategy when betting on politics. Brexit and Trump victory in the US election serve as a reminder that even the bookmakers can be wrong at times, as eventual winners had been considered long shots when the markets opened. The odds on both kept shortening as punters started to realise that numerous polls and predictions might not be spot on, resulting in bumper payouts for those who had backed Leave and Trump.

Place your bets early on and lock in the profit if possible

Those punters who placed their bets early on Leave vote in the EU Referendum and Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election must have been happy to see the market move in the desired direction as their winning chances kept increasing by the day. What it meant is that due to a considerable shift in favour of the outcome they had backed, the punters had the opportunity to basically cash out before the final event and secure nice profits without worrying about the final outcome. Rather than taking the risk of losing their original wagers, some decided to cash out and this tends to prove a good strategy to end up on the winning side whatever happens.

Don’t trust the media hype

Even though all the polls and media reports predicted landslide wins for their opponents, Brexit leaders and Donald Trump proved the mainstream networks wrong, as it turned out that things did not go according to plan. For one reason or another, the media tend to side with more popular and what they believe is the stronger contender, and they keep hyping them up in the build up to the main event, making people believe there is no way their beloved candidate would lose. However, that at times have just the opposite effect as people get angered by the reckless disregard of the truth and decide to vote for the underdog. Also, the more popular candidate in the media is not necessarily the more popular among the common folk, so you are definitely better off listening to what the persons around you are saying than believing the media hype.