The midterm election is coming up this November, meaning things could get easier or more challenging for current president Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Currently, the Senate is split 50-50, with vice president Harris Kamala holding a tie breaker vote in rare deadlock scenarios. The House of Representatives is presently a Democratic majority, but requires a 60-vote threshold for legislation to pass. The margins are thin and could go either way.
View the latest 2022 Midterm Election Odds!
Early polling suggests that the Senate will continue to be a razor-thin majority for the Democrats, while the Republican Party is favoured slightly to gain majority in the House. However, as we’ve seen time and time again, survey models aren’t always accurate in predicting voting results. Beyond casting your vote on the midterm election day on Tuesday, November 8, you can also bet on what you think the outcomes will be in our online sportsbook. We have a Politics page dedicated to midterm election betting, including the winning party’s odds for both House and Senate control, various Senate races, voter turnout and approval ratings, among others. We’ll explain how to navigate the page and read the odds.
How To Bet On The Midterm Election
When it comes to midterm election betting, Bovada is the best place to be. There are a huge range of midterm election odds for you to bet on. To begin betting on the midterm election, simply follow the steps below:
- First off, you will need to create a Bovada account.
- Once you have signed up, place a deposit. (Deposit with crypto for the best experience)
- Head on over to our politics betting page.
- Click the bet you wish to wager on.
- Enter the amount you wish to ‘Risk’ or ‘Win’ on the betslip in the bottom corner.
- Hit ‘Place Bets’.
If you’ve bet on sports before, you’ll already have a good sense of how to bet on the midterm election, which uses standard betting formats. Most bets are presented as either propositions or over/under totals, with the odds displayed as American odds by default. For anyone new to betting in the sportsbooks, we’ll provide a quick primer on how these odds and bets work.
Midterm Election Betting Markets
Proposition Bets
When oddsmakers create proposition bets (props for short) in politics betting, they are proposing a potential scenario and allowing the public to bet on the potential outcomes. An example of a prop bet with the midterm elections is as follows:
House & Senate Control Doubles
- Republican House & Democratic Senate +125
- Republican House & Republican Senate +165
- Democratic House & Democratic Senate +280
- Democratic House & Republican Senate +2000
In the above prop, four possible scenarios are provided as betting options for the midterm election, along with odds. If you think that there will be a Republican majority in the House and Democratic majority in the Senate, you would select the first betting option, which would then appear on your virtual bet slip. Input the amount of money you want to risk, and you’ll see the payout appear beside it.
Reading American odds is simple if you think about bets in $100 denominations. Any positive odds show the amount of money you’d win off of a $100 bet (keep in mind: bigger and smaller bets are allowed). In our example of the Republican House & Democratic Senate above, the +125 odds would yield a $125 payout on a $100 bet. Your original stake would also be returned.
Any odds that appear as a negative number work differently, since these have a higher chance of panning out. Negative odds show how much money you’d need to wager in order to win $100. For example -200 odds mean you would need to bet $200 to win $100. Your original stake would be returned on top of that.
Over/Under Bets
Also known as totals betting, over/under bets set up a question regarding an outcome that can be placed on a numerical scale which asks the betting public to decide if they think the actual outcome will be over or under the prediction. We’ll use a current example from the midterm election to illustrate this popular form of betting.
Joe Biden Approval Rating on November 8, 2022
Under 42.5 -140
Over 42.5 +110
Approval ratings use a percentage scale, making them ideal for over/under bets. In this case, we’re looking at Joe Biden’s approval rating at the time of the November 8 midterm election. Keep in mind, the last three midterm elections had approval ratings in the 40th percentile, which is where this total is posted. Bet on Biden’s approval rating being over 42.5% at -140 odds, or under 42.5% at +110 odds.
The “Under” bet is the favourite in this equation since it has negative odds. The payout structure is the same as described above, with -140 paying $100 on a $140 bet, while +110 yields a $110 payout on a $100 bet.
Other Betting Markets
Beyond the props and totals mentioned above, our betting market for the midterm election includes turnout results, Senate races, and a bet that pertains to just the House of Representatives.
If you have a gut instinct on what the turnout results will be for November 8th, in comparison to the 2018 midterms, you can place a bet and cash in if you guess right. In 2018, the voter turnout rate was 50%, which was the highest it’s been in over a century; bet on the 2022 midterm election turnout to exceed that for -500. You can also bet on the 2022 midterm election to exceed the 2020 presidential election turnout, which was 66.7%—the highest it’s been since 1900.
Sign up to Bovada today!
Check out all of the midterm election odds on the Politics page in our sportsbook and weigh in on how you think things will roll out on November 8. If you are new to Bovada, then be sure to sign up today so you can begin betting on the midterm elections.
