GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 36 - October 2016

30 W W W . G P W A T I M E S . O R G POLITICAL PUNTING ON THE RISE “We’ve seen enough anecdotal reports from established book- makers to be convinced that political betting is growing in a big way,” he said. “We would like to say Brexit was a turning point for political betting, but that would just be outright speculation on our part. Our belief is the massive amount of Brexit betting was more of an indicator that there is already a big market for political betting.” For proof, MJ went to his numbers, finding that a blog post on his site about Brexit saw 61% of its readers click on an affiliate link. He started a blog post in January about the U.S. Presiden- tial Election and has been updating it regularly, and it saw a 49.4% conversion rate, with the anticipation that number would increase as the election cycle headed toward Election Day. “We see it as a great opportunity to catch the attention of potential customers who wouldn’t have found us otherwise,” MJ added. “We suspect many affiliates overlook this market because they are busy with major sports and horse racing markets. Premier League betting is worthmany billions of dollars each year, while political and novelty betting is only worth a fraction of that. “Despite that, we want to be involved in as many markets as possible. We believe that novelty betting markets are a great way to introduce recreational players to the industry — and there is likely a strong possibility of crossover revenue, especially with themed games.” As for the U.S. General Election, as this magazine went to press in September, Clinton was a heavy favorite in the polls to pre- vail. Of course, those indicators haven’t always been accurate, and not just in the case of Brexit. Krishnamurty, who started to publicly back Clinton in the next U.S. president betting markets back in December 2015, pointed out that last year’s U.K. General Election was seen as a dead heat going into Election Day. Polls and commentators were saying it would too close to call, and many were forecasting a “hung parliament” with no clear winner. Yet the Conservative party cruised to a victory of 6.5%, which is what the betting markets reflected in the days leading up to the election, making the Conservatives an 85% favorite. “We believe that novelty betting markets are a great way to introduce recreational players to the industry — and there is likely a strong possibility of crossover revenue”