Just like any race, politics is also a race; they even call it a race, so placing bet on politics is actually pretty popular. There is always some kind of politics going on somewhere and sports betting sites have caught on to the notion that punters aren't opposed to making the odd wager. We suppose these could be called propositions bets to a degree, but they can become a little more seasonally structured over time. So, if you fancy a flutter on the Democrats or Republicans or whether the UK NHS will get their reforms of the ground and save £20billion this year with the new coalition government in place - perhaps the bets are on.

In the US for example; betting on politics could mean betting on either Presidential or Congressional, nominations and sports betting sites offer odds on individual winners from each party. Will Gov. Chris Christie be the new Presidential nomination for the Republican Party for example - what do you think? As always the favourites get the short odds and the least popular candidates get the longest odds. In the US the following bets are popular wagers during political change:

The most popular wagers made are during the Presidential race - this is the highest-ranking political office, whereas in the UK this is the Prime Minister. In Libya and Zimbabwe, they have Presidents for life. It seems that despite elections or no elections Muammar Gaddafi and Robert Mugabe don't look like they are about to step down and betting on a sure thing is never much fun - neither is living in either one of these countries much fun by the looks of things. Everyone in the US knows who the candidates are in a Presidential Election, these nominees have campaigned nation-wide and a punter simply picks a candidate and checks out the best odds he can get at various bookmaking sites. A bet can be placed on a win, loss or draw. A draw will attract the longest odds because it has the least chance of happening.

Congressional/High Office Elections: might be another way of pacing bets on politics in the US. Sometimes they attract attention and other times they don't - for example when the Terminator was running - sorry, Arnold Schwarzenegger was running Gov. of California, a ton of people were betting on politics, because they were interested in the outcome due to his notoriety. It was during this electoral race he was dubbed the "Governator". Therefore if the public shows an interest, the sportsbooks open the odds and the bets are on.

Effectively this is how all betting on politics is determined, there are no hard and fast betting rules, it just depends on the public. If the sports book believes there might be something in it for them, then they open a book. Popular politician or who have been rocked by scandal, will generate more interest and this is what makes betting on politic more propositional than structured. Betting on the underdog will always be more profitable, providing of course, that the underdog actually does come in, or doesn't if you bet on a loss.