You might feel as though the New York Jets have about as good a chance to win a game this season as Donald Trump does of overturning the results of the presidential election. If you’re slightly more confident about the Jets avoiding an 0-16 campaign than you are of Trump conceding defeat, then sportsbooks may have just the prop bets you’ve been looking for.
Online bookmaker BetOnline.ag has created a series of special political prop bets that concern the odds that Trump will officially concede the election, by tying that possibility to a couple of ongoing NFL streaks.
Jets, Trump Both Highly Unlikely to Win
When it comes to the Jets, BetOnline is offering -225 on the awful New York football team to win a game before Trump concedes the 2020 election (+160). In order for the wager to have action, either the Jets must win or Trump must concede before the end of the Super Bowl.
That means that there’s a decent chance that bettors might just get their money back on that market. The 0-8 Jets are one of the worst teams to grace an NFL field in several seasons. New York is coming into its Monday Night Football matchup with the New England Patriots as a 9.5-point underdog, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, despite the fact that the Jets are at home and the Pats are only 2-5 on the season themselves.
On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine Trump conceding the election. News organizations unanimously called the election for Biden over the weekend. Trump is fighting that reality, however, and is currently pursuing legal remedies that would need to overturn the results in multiple states for him to gain an advantage in the electoral college. In the meantime, Biden’s leads in most of these states continue to grow as absentee and provisional ballots are counted.
THE OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED INTO THE COUNTING ROOMS. I WON THE ELECTION, GOT 71,000,000 LEGAL VOTES. BAD THINGS HAPPENED WHICH OUR OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE. NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WERE SENT TO PEOPLE WHO NEVER ASKED FOR THEM!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2020
Trump is currently showing no signs of backing down and continues to argue that he is being robbed of re-election, promising lawsuits to challenge the results in several states and tweeting regularly that he actually won the election, no matter what the current tallies and the mainstream media may say.
Pittsburgh Still Chasing Undefeated Season
If I had to recommend a bet on that market, I’d go with the Jets, as it’s difficult to go 0-16 in the NFL, no matter how bad a team may be. But a better version of this bet is available in a market that involves the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In that market, BetOnline is asking whether the 8-0 Steelers will lose a game before Trump concedes the election. While a Steelers loss (-350) stands as a heavy favorite over a Trump concession (+225), it’s likely that Pittsburgh – like all but one team in NFL history – will lose at some point, either in the regular season or the playoffs.
The Steelers aren’t even the favorites to win the Super Bowl, with FanDuel rating the Kansas City Chiefs (+350) higher than Pittsburgh (+350).
Betters appear to prefer the NFL sides of these bets. Both markets opened as near tossups before drifting quickly toward a Jets win or a Steelers loss – a sign of just how stubborn bettors expect Trump to be in the coming months.
