Gambling strategy

Betting early

Because the tax is lower, betting early is always to your advantage, since the tax does not count towards your returns from your bet. You can, therefore, place higher bets at a lower risk.

Betting low

The only reason to be low when you're betting early is if you lack self-confidence and are unsure about which faction will win. You can always raise your bet when you're more certain, although you pay for this privilege by having to spend more in taxes. Betting low in the beginning will only work if you are the only player betting on that faction, which is not likely, and intend to snatch a lot of bets from players backing another faction.

Betting high

The most advantageous way of betting, provided you truly believe in the faction you are backing. Because taxes are low, you'll be able to bet very high and recover almost all of your points once the faction of your choice snatches the victory. Provided your opponents do not bet too low, or your opponent is the house, you should be able to make a good return. The problem here is if your team loses - You'll have wasted a lot of points. But that's a risk you take when you gamble.

Betting late

If you died later, you may still want to place a bet. Betting late (particularly after day 3) is often a bad idea. Because the house will not bet more than a half of what the players gambled, it will be difficult for you to make a return.

Betting high

Betting late and high will make you lose most of your points to the tax collector. This is a terrible idea. The only reason to do this is if you want to stop another player from making a return by stealing his share from a winning bet at a loss for yourself - in other words, if you're an asshole (note: this is not against the rules ;P)

Betting low

Place a low bet if there is a nice pot from several other players who bet on the wrong team. You can place a low bet on the winning faction and take all those points for yourself. This strategy is the only intelligent reason for betting late. You may also want to partake in the profits if a number of players are betting against the house, though remember that this won't yield a return in day 4 or later.

When to raise your bet

Raise your bet as early as possible. You'll want to raise your bet if a team you did not back has a high bet on it but it looks like it will lose, and other players start placing bets in your team in order to take part of the returns. The lower your initial bet was, the more likely you are to have to raise your bet, although this strategy can also be more prudent in uncertain games.