How Betting On Trump vs. Biden Mirrors Mayweather/McGregor Bets

• The 2020 Presidential Election has become the biggest betting event in history for U.K. sportsbooks since the Connor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather fight of 2017.
• While betting on the election is illegal in the US, overseas and offshore books are reporting over $1 billion in betting handle on the election.
• In 2017 the largest wagers went on Mayweather to beat McGregor, despite the majority of bets going to McGregor.
• In 2020, the largest bets are going to Joe Biden while most of the bets are going towards Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON – As the world waits with bated breath to see who will be the next President of the United States of America, some people have a bit more skin in the race than others.

Betting on the Presidential Election has seen the most popularity in history this year, with international and offshore books estimating upwards of $1 billion in betting handle on the presidential race alone.

While betting on the election is not allowed for U.S. sportsbooks, bettors have taken to international retailers to get their bets in on who will be the next president.

Joe Biden is currently the heavy favorite to defeat Donald Trump with odds available on any of the major legal online sportsbooks.

This race, and the large amount of money coming in on it, has drawn comparisons to another major betting event in history: The 2017 fight between Floyd Mayweather and Connor McGregor.

A fight that was initially thought of just as a publicity stunt turned out to be the most heavily bet-on fight in history, with more than a billion dollars exchanging hands around the world.

“It was so unique that we doubt we’ll ever see anything similar betting-wise in a long time,” said Katie Baylis, spokesperson for Betfair.

Betfair is one of the biggest sportsbook platforms in Europe and is owned by the same group that controls FanDuel in the US.

The impending election on Tuesday has become the biggest betting event since that historical fight, but bettors who look closer will find more similarities between the two than they would think.

Connor McGregor was a career MMA fighter with a polarizing attitude and a devout, passionate group of fans stepping outside of his regular career to take on a new challenge. Sound familiar?

McGregor was the definitive underdog in the fight, just like Donald Trump was in 2016 and is again here in 2020.

Bookies saw bets come in on McGregor in small bits and pieces. Small wagers like $100 were being put on McGregor in hopes of a big payout in the wake of an upset.

On the other side, there were fewer total bets placed on Mayweather, but those bets were massive in number, with many single bets in the millions.

This is something that is happening yet again in the 2020 presidential election.

The aforementioned Betfair told media that more than 51% of total bets have come in on Trump, but there is more total handle on Biden thanks to some extremely large wagers.

Among the ten biggest bets placed at Betfair, all of them have been on Biden.

This includes a $1.29 million wager placed at Betfair on Biden to win. The bet in question was placed with odds of -187, which would pay out $697,000 if the former Vice President is victorious.

The world knows how the Mayweather/McGregor fight ended, with the career boxer retaining his undefeated status, but no one knows quite how this year’s election could pan out. Will it be the career politician, or is another upset coming up?

Regardless of who wins, this election will go down in both American and sports betting history.

News tags: Boxing | Connor McGregor | Donald Trump | Floyd Mayweather | Joe Biden | political betting | Politics | Presidential Election Betting