The State of the Union (SOTU) is a Presidential address or speech which lays out the current administration’s plans for legislation and views of the current state of the nation. President Joe Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address on March 1, 2022.
Betting on the State of the Union, like betting on the Presidential election, has become an active category for political wagering, as the event is typically an annual affair. As broadcast technology has improved, the SOTU has become increasingly more watched by the populace at large.
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The SOTU always invites a host of fun betting lines. These are going to be over/unders and yes/no wagers for the most part, though there are a few “multiple choice” bets mixed in as well. The following State of the Union prop bets are currently posted at BetOnline and will be up until just before President Biden’s 9:00 PM address.
On February 4, 2020, former President Donald Trump delivered the fourth and final State of the Union address of his first term as POTUS. The speech was given while he was the subject of an impeachment trial in the US Senate, making him the first President to address the nation under such conditions.
Political betting is legal in the US if done through licensed and regulated offshore sportsbooks. Domestic sportsbooks currently do not offer political odds, which include SOTU odds.
However, licensed and regulated offshore books almost always provide political betting odds for SOTU prop bets, Political futures, and more. Keep in mind that sportsbooks may only put these odds up one or two days before a scheduled address, updating their boards with new odds and lines every few hours.
Historically, Presidents were never required to deliver SOTU addresses in person. In fact, many simply wrote their addresses and did not make the trek to the Capitol to give their speeches. Such Presidents employing this tack included:
However, including Biden’s SOTU address on March 1, 2022, 98 in-person State of the Union addresses have been delivered by a sitting President. The basis for addressing the nation is written within and mandated by the US Constitution.
The typical procedure for the State of the Union address consists of the speaker of the House of Representatives inviting the President to appear before the two Congressional Houses to give his/her speech.
During the start of our nation’s development, our first president, George Washington, became the first to fulfill this Constitutional tradition in 1790 with an in-person address to Congress in the Senate Chamber of Federal Hall in the old U.S. Capital (New York City). The SOTU address was known only as the Annual Message in 1790 and kept that moniker until 1946. Thomas Jefferson, our nation’s third president, broke the mold and was the first to deliver his Annual Message to Congress in writing.
Written Annual Messages became more commonplace after that. Woodrow Wilson altered that tradition after reigniting the in-person delivery mode in 1913. The Annual Message would later be called the State of the Union under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration.
Naturally, technological developments have played a big role in how SOTU addresses were/are pushed out to the public at large.
Typical State of the Union bets made available through licensed sportsbooks include prop bets such as the following:
Though these topics might seem broad, offshore political betting sites will always post specific guidelines to help inform your wagers.