Election betting rife in halls of Parliament

As the election draws ever closer, staffer group chats are heating up with talk about how to make money off democracy, according to sources speaking to Crikey. 

Betting on the federal election is normalised, commonplace and bipartisan, according to sources from all sides of politics speaking on the condition of anonymity. 

“It is … extremely prevalent in the Nats and the Libs,” one former Coalition staffer said. “It probably accounts for one-third of all group chat messages.” 

“Can you put in your story that being a staffer is fucking hell, and we deserve our insider trading for all the shit we cop from our bosses?”

The former staffer clarified they did not consider staffers betting on election outcomes to constitute insider trading: “We live in a democracy. We don’t rig elections.” 

One former Liberal staffer admitted that not only had they bet on general elections but also internal betting pools existed within party offices. 

“I’ve certainly bet on a few preselections,” they said, adding it was “mostly for bragging rights”, that younger staff were usually more involved than older staff in election gambling, and that they would also tend to be interested in betting on higher-profile events such as US elections. 

Another Liberal staffer told Crikey they had only really discussed election betting with “Labor hacks”.

This trend was also reflected by a union staffer who observed, “The union uncles don’t [seem to] care for political punts, even if they’re all willing to lose the house on the ponies.” Despite that, they confirmed that they “absolutely” had seen plenty of election betting in both Labor and union offices, including staffers betting on races they were working on.

The attitude to gambling on elections appears to be bipartisan, but outside of the major parties, things may be different. A NSW Greens source who spoke to Crikey said that while they didn’t doubt it was possibly commonplace in the Greens, they weren’t aware of regular election gambling. 

“A lot of [Greens] staffers don’t fit the usual demographic [of gamblers] I’d say.” 

Crikey contacted the parliamentary leaders of all three major parties for comment. The Prime Minister’s Office directed us to the Labor Party’s national secretary, who did not respond in time for publication. Peter Dutton’s and Adam Bandt’s offices did not respond for comment. 

The codes of conduct for ministers and staff prohibit using information within government for financial or personal gain. However, Capital Brief reports there are no similar rules for backbenchers. None of the sources Crikey spoke to suggested that using inside information for gambling purposes was common for staffers.

The Labor Party told Capital Brief it has banned campaign staff from betting on elections since the early 2000s. The Liberals have no strict policy but insist gambling on elections is discouraged and betting sites can’t be accessed on federal party networks.

Independent MP Kate Chaney told Capital Brief last year she supported a ban on candidates and staffers betting on election results, calling it “outrageous” and a “no-brainer” reform. 

It contrasts with the regulation of election betting overseas. In 2024, a police investigation was launched in the UK following allegations that politicians used inside information to bet on the 2024 general election. That investigation was dropped by the Metropolitan Police, with crown prosecutors advising that evidence gathered during the investigation did not meet the threshold to prove misconduct in public office. 

Last week, Crikey reported that betting markets for a number of key House of Representatives races had opened, with bookmakers favouring the Coalition to form the next government (although you shouldn’t necessarily trust punters over pollsters when it comes to predicting Australian election outcomes). At the time of writing, Sportsbet has more than 50 markets available to bet on regarding the 2025 federal election, which is yet to be officially announced. 

Disclosure: Daanyal Saeed made a total of $25.50 betting on the 2019 federal election while employed for two weeks as an ALP campaigner door-knocking and phone-banking. He didn’t realise it was an issue at the time, but… it appears he did breach Labor Party policy.