Best UK General Election Betting Sites
The place where you can find the top UK General Election Betting Sites: Free Bets, Bonuses and other offers handpicked by our experts when it comes to Political Betting. We know the Odds, the Parties, and the best sportsbooks in the UK to place your wager in.
Best Betting Sites for UK General Election
18+ | New customers only. | Min deposit £10. Min turnover £15 | Skrill & Neteller not eligible. | T&C apply. | www.begambleaware.org
18+ | Full T&C apply. Play Responsibly www.begambleaware.org
18+ | New Players Only. Min £10 qualifying bets, stake not returned. Free bet - one-time stake of 20, min odds 1.5, stake not returned. 1X wager the winnings from the free bet. Max conversion: £200. Withdrawal requests void all active/pending bonuses. Excluded Skrill and Neteller deposits.| Terms & Conditions apply. | www.begambleaware.org
18+. New customers only. Min deposit £20. Max One £10 Free Bet. Min turnover £20. Qualifying Bets must be placed at odds of 1/1 (2.00) or greater. Paid as bonus token with Min 4/5 (1.80) odds req. T&Cs apply.
18+ | Minimum Deposit: £10. Max. Free Bet Token amount: £15. | PayPal, Neteller, Paysafe, Skrill or Skrill 1-Tap not eligible for any Free Bet Token offer. | T&C apply. | www.begambleaware.org
18+ #AD 10% Cash back without wagering the day after if the player loses all the money in the account. Min deposit £10. Gameplay is monitored. Full T&Cs apply.
How Do We Select the Best Political Betting Sites?
Many people think that you can only bet on sports at a bookmaker, but this is definitely not the case anymore. You will be surprised by what you can bet on nowadays at all of the best sportsbooks. If you are a fan of the Eurovision Song Contest then you can bet on that, and if you are into your politics then you will also be able to bet on that if you wish. In the following guide, we are going to provide you with some valuable information about general election betting.
There are many sportsbooks now that are offering odds and markets for political events that it would be really foolish of you to sign up to the first one that you come across – even if you think it is one that ticks all of the boxes. We can obviously not do much to prevent you from doing this, apart from emphasising that doing so could lead a worse gambling experience than your originally imagined.
If you have read some of our other pages, then you will know that we always stress how vital it is that you take time to find out all that you can about a sports betting site before you go and open an account with them. In other words, do not deposit any money at a sportsbook until you are 100% sure that they excel in all the key areas.
If you get into the habit of doing this, you will be greatly improving your chances of having a very good gambling experience whenever you open your account. If you are new to the betting world, whether you are betting on sports, politics, or at an online casinos, then there is a high likelihood that you are not entirely sure what you need to look out for when you are deciding on which sportsbook to open an account with. There is no need to be down about this though because we guarantee that this will have changed by the time that you get to the end of this review.
Below we are going to have a closer look at the main criteria that we examine in order for us to be able to properly declare whether a particular sportsbook is a good one for you or not.
How Exactly Does a General Election Work?
The United Kingdom is split in 650 areas that are known as constituencies. Each of these areas has a person that is known as a MP (Member of Parliament), who represents the area in the House of Commons, which is in London. When you are 18, you have the right to vote in the general election to elect the MP for your area. Therefore, a general election is actually 650 elections that happen on the same day in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
On election day, everyone who is eligible to vote goes to the local polling station, where they are given a ballot paper with the names of the candidates that are running for the MP of that area. Each person gets one vote, and they must mark their chosen candidate by put an X in the box next to their name.
The candidate who has the most votes when they have all been counted is elected the MP for that area and they won a seat at the House of Commons.
How Is a General Election Won?
The majority of MPS are parts of groups that are known as political parties. To win, one of the parties has to reach 326 MPS, which is half of them all plus one. If a party manages to achieve this, then it is known as winning the overall majority as the party has won more seats than the other parties put together. When this happens, the Queen will invite whoever leads the winning party to become the Prime Minister.
What Happens If No Party Gets 326 MPs?
When there is no winner – no one political party earns more seats than the others put together, it is called a hung parliament. If a hung parliament happens, then there are two different options:
Option one: The big parties can join so that they can have a combined 326 seats or more between them. They would then rule the UK together in what is known as a coalition government. The government that is in power before an election are given the first option of doing this. This is what happened back in 2010 when the Conservatives, known as the Tories, teamed up with the Liberal Democrats, also known as the Lib Dems, to form one government.
Option two: If a party gets the most MPs but does not get the overall majority and do not want to combine with another party as explained above, they can become a minority government. They would have to make agreements with smaller parties so that they can support them at parliament or get support from specific MPs depending on what they want to do. However, if they cannot get the support that they need, then they risk getting defeated at the House of Commons.
In none of the above options work for a party, then another election will be held.
How Often is a General Election and When is the Next One?
According to the law, there must be a general elections every five years, but one can be called soon than that. An election that is called earlier than expected is known as a snap election.
A snap election can be called under two circumstances. The first one is that two-thirds of the members of parliament back the motion for an early general election. Since there are 650 seats at the House of Commons, a snap election can only go ahead of 434 MPs agree to it. The second circumstance is if the simple majority pass a motion of confidence and two weeks pass with the Commons not passing a confidence vote in any new government that is formed.
Since the ability to call a snap election lies with the current government, the usual result is that the party in power wins more seats and strengthens their position. However, if the party in power calls a snap election at the wrong time, they can lose seats and could even lose power.
The last general election took place on Thursday the 12th of December 2019, with the next one scheduled for Thursday the 2nd of May 2024.
Who Are the Candidates for My Constituency?
Since the next general elections are scheduled for 2024, we obviously do not have any idea as to which candidates are standing in each area. For the general election in 2019, the deadline for the nominations was the 14th of November, so we only find out all the candidates around 3-4 weeks before election day. You can find out who is running in your area by visiting the Electoral Commission site.
Betting on the General Election
Now that you have a better understanding of what a general election entails, we are now going to take a look at betting on such a political event. When it comes to political betting, you can jump right in and bet without using any strategies, but this is just going to result in you losing money, which you obviously do not want to happen. Below we have given you some great political betting tips that you should keep in mind when betting on the general election or any other type of politics.
Bet Early
You can wait up until the final day before voting day to make a bet, but if you do this the odds will have a lot less value than if you placed your bets well in advanced. As an election draws close, the margins tighten and the number of candidates are thinned down to two or three. Obviously, the more candidates that are in the running for an election, the higher the odds will be. This applies to the United Kingdom general election and most other political events.
Don’t Bet on Your Favourite Candidate Just for the Sake of It
This might seem pretty obvious to many, but many punters fail to understand that betting on politics is something that requires the same detailed research and analysis that other sports require. Betting on politics is not all about putting your money on your favourite politicians, it is about find a value bet – a bet where the odds on offer are better than the probability. You should analyse stats, reliable news sources, and polls before making a bet on politics.
Research Independently
Not all new sources are trustworthy. In order to confirm the data that you find, do your own research by taking a look at different forums and staying updated with public opinion. Observing comment threads and talking to acquaintances can give you a great clue as to what people are thinking about. Brexit is a great example of this – many news outlets predicted that it would not happen, but it did.
Do Not Believe All That You Read
This reinforces our last point – always make sure that your info sources are reliable ones. Many news sources will be misleading due to the fact that they favour a particular candidate over another. One-sided news can falsely represent public opinion, and this is why you should take all estimations that you encounter on the Internet with a pinch of salt. It is important to stay well clear of biased sites when looking for useful information that will help with your politics betting. The media is full of propaganda and if you cannot distinguish propaganda from fact, then you can lose a lot of money.
Beware of Polls
Polls are meant to be an accurate representation of public opinion. However, in reality, they are most political tools that are used to influence the public vote. you will find that polls are usually skewed to favour a certain candidate. Polling bureaus go about doing this in a number of ways such as only selecting favourable candidates or falsifying the results to favour their candidate.
Do Not Underestimate Underdogs
Punters like to bet on the major candidates as they feel that it represents a less risky option than betting on a candidate that does not have as much of a reputation. However, placing a wager on one of the minor candidates gaining seats at parliament is often a wiser move than simply placing your bets on a major candidate to be victorious.
Popular General Election Betting Markets
Above we provided you with some very useful general election betting tips that you should remember when betting on this event or any other political event for that matter, and now we shall take a look at some popular bets that you can place on the general election.
Overall majority: With this type of bet, you are simply betting on whether one of the parties will get the overall majority. In other words, you are betting on whether a party will pick up 326 seats or more and win the election.
Year of next election: The next general election is scheduled for 2025, but if you have read all of the above (which you should have), then you will know that snap elections can be called. You will be able to place a bet on what year you think the next UK general election will be called.
Most seats: You can also place a bet on the party that you think will go on to get the most seats. You will be given the option of choosing from the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green, SNP and any other party.
Prop bets: There will usually be a number of prop bets that you can put your money on such as whether Boris Johnson will be the leader of the Conservative party when the next general election is held.
N.B. As you can see, there are not as many markets for political events when compared to popular sports such as football and cricket. However, we still feel that there are enough markets to keep you highly entertained.
Best Bonuses and Free Bets for the UK General Election
With regards to competitiveness, you will not find many industries out there that have a more competitive nature than the world of online gambling. This competitive nature is something that goes in our favour because it is what forces sports betting sites to provide attractive bonuses so that they can attract new players. A sports betting site that offers poor bonuses is one that will go out of business quickly as nobody will bother creating an account with them.
If you believe that bonuses are all basically the same and it does not matter which one you choose, you are sorely mistaken. When you are looking for a bookie to open an account with, some bookmakers will have very good bonuses, others will have average bonuses, while some will have really poor bonuses. Therefore, it is important that you do a bit of research before you finalise the registration process with a bookmaker you want to join.
Below we have provided you with four bookies that we believe has some of the best bonuses around at the moment. It is important for us to stress that we are not forcing anyone to sign up with one of these bookies, but you will definitely have a solid betting experience if you decide to do so.
William Hill: If you think that William Hill is the sportsbook that you would like to start betting with, then they will treat you to two free bets that are worth £15 each. Once again, the free bets can be used on whatever markets are available, but if you register with them when the election is in full flow, we suggest you use one of the free bets on some politics bets.
Ladbrokes: If Ladbrokes is the bookmaker that you have been looking for, then you will be given four free bets of £5 each once you have made a £5 qualifying bet. Again, we suggest that you use some of these bets on the UK general election if you sign up with Ladbrokes when the election is near.
N.B. Bookmakers have to change their bonuses constantly because this is how they can stand out from their competitors. Those bookies that offer better bonuses are the ones that will have a constant flow of new customers opening an account with them, while those that have a poor bonus offer will struggle to entice new customers to register. Therefore, there can be no guarantee given that the above bonuses will be on offer when you go to sign up with one of the aforementioned betting sites. We apologise for any inconvenience, but we do not have enough spare time to constantly look for bonus changes.
Something else that we believe it is really important to stress before we move on with this UK general election betting guide is that you need to read all of the T&Cs that apply before accepting a bonus. If you take a look at the T&Cs you will learn about the different wagering requirements in play, how long you have to complete whatever the wagering requirements are, the min and max deposits to claim the bonus, and whether there are some payment method restrictions in place. Familiarising yourself with every T&C will ensure that you do not end up forfeiting your bonus money.
Where to Find the Best UK General Election Odds
Odds will not be the same at all bookmakers since this is another area where they are constantly trying to outdo each other so that they can get one over on their rivals. A sportsbook that has higher odds than a rival should attract more customers, while those bookmakers that have poor odds will most often be ignored, and they will probably soon go out of business.
Before you sign up with a bookmaker, you should do a little bit of research to ensure that you will get the best value for your money should you decide to register with them. When you buy anything else in life, we are pretty sure that you do plenty of research to make sure you are getting the best out of your money, so why would you stop doing that just because you are going to be spending your money on gambling?
Let us provide you with an example that highlights the importance of locating the best odds when betting. Let us pretend that a general election has been called and you are going to bet on the Conservatives to beat Labour and get the majority of the votes because you are a Tory. You check out the odds with one bookmaker and the Conservatives are 1.60 to win, while the odds with another bookie are 1.80. If you place a £10 wager on the Conservatives with the first bookmaker and they win the majority, you will make a profit of £6.
If you place the same wager with the second bookie and the Conservatives win, your profit will be £8. Now, we are fully aware that £2 is not a large sum of money, but imagine if you miss out on at least £2 with every winning bet you land.
So, what bookmakers do we recommend when it comes to UK general election odds? Well, these four bookies always offer really good odds for political betting:
Our Review of the Best Political Betting Sites
William Hill
William Hill is close to nine decades old, making it one of the oldest bookmakers in the world. The fact that they have been around for so long is a clear sign of just how good they are. A bookie that is no good will not last nine months, let along nine years. They are highly thought of thanks to the competitive odds that they offer, the wide variety of markets they make available for the books they offer, their attractive Welcome Bonus, and the fact that they stream around 60,000 live events every single year includinglive casino games. Below you can see how we rank them.
Pros of politics betting at William Hill
✅ They offer odds and markets for a wide variety of political elections
✅ They have plenty of political markets that you can bet on such as whether Donald Trump will last his full term, the candidate that will win the presidential election, the party that gets the most seats in the general election, and who the next Prime Minister will be
✅ The odds provided as a good as you will come across at any bookmaker
Cons of politics betting at William Hill:
❌ There are no live streams, but this should really be expected. It would be quite boring to watch people going to the polls to vote (as well as illegal) or watch people count votes
UK General Election Live Betting
Sportsbooks entered the online world in the 90s, but sports betting fans did not have the option of making live bets to start with. If you have just become acquainted with the sports betting world, then you might not be entirely sure what exactly a live bet is. Well, for the uninitiated, it is a bet that you place when the sporting event in question is still in action. For example, if you like to bet on football and place a bet on Chelsea to score against Arsenal in the 60th minute, then you have made a live bet since there are 30 minutes left to play.
The 90s were a long time ago now and the technological world has improved tenfold since then and continues to do so. Nowadays, you will struggle to find a sports betting site that does not offer a live betting arena. Bookmakers know that sports betting fans like making live wagers and they are fully aware that if they do not offer a live betting platform that they will lose potential customers. While almost all bookmakers have their own live betting platform, not all of them have been created equally. Some bookies have integrated online casinos as their strategy to get many more users as well as a steady income stream thus another look into the direction of competition. A common stage for competition is the number of casino games featured on their casino section this stage causes so many bookies to feature a wide variety of casino software providers.
If you want to place some live UK general elections, then we suggest that you look at these four bookies:
This UK general election guide has given you plenty of useful political betting information, and we really hope it helps you have a great UK general election gambling experience. Good luck!
FAQ
What are the best Political betting sites?
Many sportsbooks that you will encounter on the Internet offer their players plenty of political betting options and decent odds. However, there are some sportsbooks that stand out from the crowd when it comes to their political betting. The three that we feel are ahead of the rest are William Hill, Bwin, and Unibet.
Why are these Political betting sites good for me?
The sportsbooks that we suggest you consider signing up with if you want to place some bets on politics all give competitive odds for a variety of political events from all over the world. Therefore, if you feel like placing some bets on a political event, just log into your account, head on over to their politics page, and bet on whatever piques your interest. We guarantee that there will always be something that entices you.
Can I find any bonuses on Political betting sites?
The answer is a resounding yes. Sportsbooks have to offer bonuses in order to entice new players to register with them and to make sure that all of their existing players do not take their customer elsewhere. There is no better way to start your gambling career than with some free money. When you are using bonuses, no matter what type it is, please read all of the terms and conditions that apply.