Stats come after sports calendar change

Betting exchange Smarkets has confirmed a considerable boost in political wagers since the UK announced a nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19.

a 95% increase on the ￡580,000 ($724,400) traded in February

The UK-based company has reported takings of over ￡1.1m ($1.4m) in March, representing a 95% increase on the ￡580,000 ($724,400) traded in February.

The announcement comes as welcome news for the gambling industry, which has seen record falls across the sports betting market since the suspension of many popular sporting events.

Highest-ever trading volume

Typically, political bets are most popular during election times. Smarkets has revealed that, barring these periods, last month’s trading volume was the highest-ever on record.

The betting exchange believes it is on track to “easily surpass” last year’s betting volume for political markets. Already in 2020, Brits have wagered ￡2.3m ($2.87m) on politics via the platform. Betting activity is set to increase with the US Presidential Election that will take place in November.

US election due to bring in millions

Right now, the most popular political betting market for Smarkets is American politics. The market for the Democratic nominee has seen more than ￡3.5m ($4.37m) wagered since its creation two years ago. The bets on who will be announced president in November are expected to be even higher. Currently, Trump’s re-election is sticking at 50% on the platform, with Joe Biden not far behind at 43%.

fully expecting a new politics volume record”

Sarbjit Bakhshi, the head of political markets for Smarkets, revealed that 2019 was the company’s biggest year yet, although he expects this to change. He said the election “is always huge for bettors this side of the pond, and with a personality like Trump involved we are fully expecting a new politics volume record.”