Apart from conventional gaming, sports, and other related areas, there is no doubt, that sport has an important role to play as far as the overall gambling and gaming industry is concerned.
It would be not out of place that each year billions of sterling pounds could be spent on various types of political predictions. It basically includes important political events across the world. However, in this country, we will be looking at the gambling and predictions which pertain only to the elections in the United Kingdom
Where to Look for Gambling on Politics?
When it comes to gaming and punting on politics, there are endless numbers of websites which can be approached. They have almost the same type of political events on which gambling is allowed. One such site which is quite popular is Paddy Power.
Hence, it would be not a bad idea to have a closer look at the various odds being offered by this site. They have been considered as one of the most popular sites for political punting and gambling, and they cover almost all the political events which take place in the United Kingdom.
It Covers Almost All Political Events That One Can Think Of
It could range from by-elections which could be held every few months to the general elections in England, Ireland, Scotland and also almost all countries of the European Union. It also covers the EU as a whole apart from the various states and territories which come under the EU banner.
It also covers elections and also referendums for taking major political decisions by the people of respective countries. For example, the latest Brexit polls also had wide participation as far as punters and gamblers are concerned.
Betting Pertaining to the United Kingdom
Let us get started with the by-elections which could be held over the next few months or years in the United Kingdom. When we talk about Paddy Power election odds, we have to keep this always in mind. The Copeland by-election is scheduled for 31st January 2017, and hence there is quite a bit of betting on this.
As of today when it comes to odds, the Conservative Party has an odd of 4/6. This is quite surprising because, given the fact that Conservatives are in power, we would have expected the odds to be in favor of the party in power.
On the other hand, the odd of 6/4 is certainly in favor of Labor Party which again is surprising. This is perhaps because this is a seat which is a stronghold of Labor Party.
Most Seats
We will now shift focus to the most numbers of seats which the various major parties are expected to win as far as the next general elections are concerned.
They are quite some time away and are scheduled to be held in May 2020. Given today’s political scenario it is often believed that the Conservatives are frontrunners. However, three years plus is a big time in politics, and anything can happen. Now coming to odds, Labor is in a weak position with an odd of 3/1.
In other words, for every one pound betted the bookmakers are ready to pay only 3 pounds in case Labor wins the most number of seat. On the other hand, in case of Conservatives, the odds are ¼, which is also not very comfortable as far as this party is concerned.
There are other parties too like Liberal which do not have much of a chance with an odd of 33/1. Other parties are also non-existent in a generally bipolar fight.
Overall Majority
All that matters are the overall majority. Hence it would be interesting to look at the various Paddy Power election odds. The Conservative party has an odd of 8/13 against Labor Party which has an odd of 5/1.
When this odd is converted into final prediction, it certainly means that there is not much money if one predicts that Conservative will win an overall majority.
On the other hand, the odd of 5/1 is heavily stacked again Labor means that for every pound betted in favor of a Labor party majority, the bookmakers are ready to pay the better six pounds.
As is the case with other attributes it would be pertinent to mention here that Liberal and others do not have much of chance and them at best could be considered as also ran.
Date of Next Election
Though the date of the election has been fixed for May 7, 2020, there are often speculations that the election date could be advanced before May 7. However, as of now, it seems quite unlikely because Conservative under Theresa May have a solid majority and they would not like to upset the apple cart by going in for an early election.
But this does not prevent the punters from betting and let us see how the odds are stacked for different years. If the elections are held in 2017, the odds are 6/4 which means that you will roughly get 1.5 sterling pounds for each sterling pound staked.
As far as 2018 is concerned, the odds are 9/1, and for 2019 the odd is 10/1. Hence there are many punters who believe that if 2017 is ruled out, then 2020 is the most likely year when elections will be held.
Will There Be Any New Political Party?
The law requires that a certain number of MPs should break away from some party to form a new one. There is very little chance of this happening. However, the bookmakers are ready to offer an odd of 6/4 for a possible breakup of the Labor Party and the formation of a new party.
But this again is not probable though it might be possible. Labor MPs have a better future and chance of winning by fighting elections being inside it rather than being outside it. Hence, there are fascinating angles as far as betting on UK elections are concerned.
