Will Pence or Harris test positive for COVID after debate? Oddsmakers are taking bets
Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris will face off for the first time on Wednesday at the VP debate — and oddsmakers are taking bets on what could happen.
Site SportsBetting.ag has placed bets on whether Harris, who represents California in the U.S. Senate, or Pence will lie first during the debate and whether either will test positive for COVID-19 after their showdown ends.
Other potential bets include whether either candidate will be seen in a mask, who will say “coronavirus” more times and if either will stand during the debate. Both candidates will be seated 12 feet apart and separated by plexiglass after President Donald Trump and many in the White House tested positive for the coronavirus, including first Lady Melania Trump, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and senior adviser Stephen Miller.
Oddsmakers put Pence as the favorite to lie first with -300 odds, which means a person would have to bet $300 to win $100 if he utters the first falsehood. Harris has +200 odds, meaning someone would win $200 if they bet $100 and she ends up lying first.
In other words, negative odds mean a bet is considered more likely to happen, while positive odds mean a beat is less likely.
Harris and Pence will debate for the first and only time at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Harris’ campaign says she tested negative for the coronavirus on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, while Pence also reported testing negative the same day.
The anticipated debate takes place just days after Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on Friday.
Trump was released from the hospital and returned to the White House on Monday evening His medical team said at a news conference that he “may not be entirely out of the woods yet” but his condition supported his discharge from Walter Reed.
There are -250 odds that Harris will say “mask” more than Pence, who has +170 odds. Sportsbetting.ag gives Harris -150 odds that she will say “coronavirus” more often than Pence.
The site has -2000 odds that Pence and Harris will test negative for COVID-19 after the debate compared to +700 odds that one of them will test positive.
The Commission on Presidential Debates approved on Monday the use of a plexiglass barrier between the two candidates, sources told Politico. Harris’ campaign supported the move while Pence’s opposed it, according to the publication. Pence’s team later voiced approval for the barrier on Tuesday after “back-and-forth.”
Oddsmakers have -800 odds that either candidate won’t be seen with a mask at the table compared to +425 odds that one of them will. They also have -2000 odds that either candidate won’t stand up during the debate and +700 odds that one of them will.
Pence has referred to Harris as a “radical leftist” and called Biden a “Trojan horse for the radical left,” The Wall Street Journal reported. He’s expected to bring that up during Wednesday’s debate, while Harris plans to focus on the pandemic, health care and Pence’s handling of the coronavirus task force.
The second and third presidential debates between Biden and Trump are scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami and Oct. 22 in Nashville.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 8:33 AM with the headline "Will Pence or Harris test positive for COVID after debate? Oddsmakers are taking bets."