Amid all the craziness, a few significant updates to the Presidential election have surfaced—meanwhile, our top-rated sportsbooks close odds on the election. We explain why the lines are disappearing and what political betting lines gamblers can expect to see on sports betting sites in the upcoming days.
But first, here’s what’s happening with the election now.
Biden recently closed Donald Trump’s voting margin in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia. Biden now leads the count in PA by 0.1%, a gap of only 9,033 votes. Pennsylvania has counted 98% of ballots so far, with hundreds of thousands of absentee, mail-in, and faulty votes still left to be reviewed, validated, and tabulated.
Moreover, the USPS recently found over 1700 uncounted mail-in ballots yesterday after a Federal Judge ordered a sweep for remaining mail-in ballots before PA’s November 6th extended deadline. Officials in PA must receive all remaining mail-in votes by today and count the votes with legitimate signatures and postmark dates of no later than November 3rd.
Joe Biden also took a slight lead in Georgia. The data shows that the candidates are too close, both holding around 49.4% of the electorate’s vote. Biden remains ahead by just over 2,000 votes. Georgia election officials reported that there are only over 4,000 outstanding votes in Georgia, and they will implement a recount shortly after official counting ends.
Arizona also reports recent shifts in voting trends as Maricopa County, AZ’s largest county, which includes Phoenix. Biden still enjoys a gap of over 60,000 votes, but AZ election officials state that the remaining ballots show a higher percentage for Trump. Out of the outstanding 220,000 votes in AZ, Trump is raking about 51% of the votes. However, to overtake Biden, Trump needs around 58% of those votes.
In Nevada, Joe Biden is increasing his lead over Donald Trump. Nevada’s most populous county, Clark County. Clark County is home to the reliably Democratic city of Las Vegas (and home to our namesake) and maintains a Biden lead.
Moreover, the Vegas presidential election odds vanished just as fast as you can say, “they’re trying to steal the election.” In the days and hours before the sportsbooks closed the lines, bettors were generated large amounts of action on Joe Biden.
IF the favorite holds too big of a lead, there is too much liability for the sportsbook. People aren’t betting enough on the underdog to offset the payouts on the favorite. Even if the payouts are small, the massive amounts of action result in a total net loss for the sportsbook.
If the favorite has a -20,000 moneyline, for example, betting 10$ only yields a $10.05 payout. If thousands or millions (as is the case with the presidential election odds) of people place this bet, the sportsbooks nickel and dime themselves.
While the 2020 candidate odds are gone, we can expect tons more political prop bets offered. More than likely, we’ll see lines on when the election will be called, how long vote counting will take, and how President Trump’s court challenges to the election process unfold.
Sources:
CNN