SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Smarkets has seen a ‘considerable uptick’ in wagers on political events this March as punters turn their attention to politics following COVID-19’s postponement of the sports calendar.
The online betting exchange detailed that it recorded £1.1 million wagers across its political markets, representing a 95% increase on February trading of £580,000.
Excluding months leading up to the UK general elections, Smarkets underlined that its trading volume on politics for March 2020 was its highest ever recorded.
Driving engagement, Smarkets detailed that active players trading on politics increased a by whopping 85% compared with February results.
Strong trading sees Smarkets on course to ‘comfortably beat’ its previous record of political wagers in a calendar year, as betting volumes track at £2.3 million for 2020, in which the year will climax with the US Presidential Election in November.
Sarbjit Bakhshi, Smarkets Head of Political Markets, said: “2019 was our biggest year yet, with the December UK General Election and our variety of markets related to Brexit attracting millions of pounds in trading volume, yet 2020 is still on course to easily surpass it. The US presidential election is coming up later in the year; it 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 on Smarkets.”
