- Anonymous UK bettor bets $5 million on Donald Trump to win re-election
- On Monday, a different anonymous bettor wagered over $1 million on Joe Biden
- Public has been heavily favoring Trump, while sharp money bets side with Biden
Just yesterday, Betfair said that one anonymous bettor in the United Kingdom wagered over $1 million on Democratic Joe Biden to win the US presidential election. The wager was the largest political bet ever recorded. Less than 24 hours later, though, the record has already been shattered. Another unidentified British gambler has placed an even larger bet on the other side of the race for the White House.
That bettor has wagered $5 million on Donald Trump winning re-election. According to the New York Post, the bettor used bookmakers registered in Curacao on Trump at 37/20 odds. Those are the equivalent of +185 American odds, which means the bettor will win around $15 million if Trump is able to successfully win a second term on Election Day.
A report said that the bettor decided to raise the stakes after discussions with “Trump camp insiders.” So, there clearly isn’t a whole lot of science involved in the bet. A betting industry source told the Sun, “Word of this bet has done the rounds and we think it’s the biggest ever made on politics.”
Big Political Betting Interest in Europe
Betting on the outcome of an American election is illegal in the United States, but real money bets on politics are legal in the UK and elsewhere. The 2020 US election is expected to be the most popular political betting event in history.
Trump won the presidency back in 2016 despite facing even longer odds. Some bookmakers had Trump listed as a +400 underdog as late as Election Day before he staged his historic upset of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump won the election despite losing the popular vote by nearly three million.
While Trump is once again facing long odds, that hasn’t done much to cool the interest of the betting public. According to Oddschecker, about 71 percent of the money wagered on the outcome of the election in the last 24 hours has come in on Trump to win.
We saw a similar story in 2016. Sam Eaton of Oddschecker said,
“The 2020 election is following a very similar betting pattern to the one we witnessed back in 2016. The closer we got to Election Day, the more money came for Donald Trump.”
Paddy Power reported that well over 90 percent of wagers placed on the election within the past day have come in on the incumbent to win re-election.
Sharp Money on Biden
Odds have shifted wildly at a variety of political betting sites in recent days. While Trump was heavily favored to win re-election for most of his first term in office, Biden enters Election Day as a steady favorite. Biden is listed as a -210 favorite to become the 46th president at BetOnline, while MyBookie has Biden at -180.
While the public may be jumping all over themselves to buy Trump at plus-money, much of the sharp money in Europe has come in on Biden to win. Paul Krishnamurty, Betfair’s political analyst, said that all 10 of the biggest bets at Betfair Exchange have come in on Biden. Eight of those bets have come within the past two weeks.
Taylor Smith
Taylor Smith has been a staff writer with GamblingSites.org since early 2017. Taylor is primarily a sports writer, though he will occasionally dabble in other things like politics and entertainment betting. His primary specialties are writing about the NBA, Major League Baseball, NFL and domestic and international soccer. Fringe sports like golf and horse racing aren’t exactly his cup of tea, bu …
