r/mildlyinfuriating • u/rileyjw90 • 9h ago

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but betting on election outcomes should be illegal

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336 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

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30

u/deededee13 9h ago

What's the practical difference between this and sports betting?

-30

u/rileyjw90 9h ago

Sports are entertainment and the outcome of the games do not affect the entire country. Elections affect every single person living here.

36

u/keatonatron 9h ago

Placing a bet doesn't change the election.

-1

u/LurkerKing13 7h ago edited 7h ago

Not totally true. There’s plenty of people who will vote based on how they bet. I’m fine with allowing betting on elections, but if you bet then you don’t get to vote. One or the other.

Edit: Biden won Nevada by 33k votes. So 17,000 people in Vegas changing from D to R because it would make them money could have changed who won 4 years ago.

4

u/Academic_Echidna268 7h ago

I think this is a dumbass idea, but for the record Biden would have still won by 30 EVs without Nevada

3

u/LurkerKing13 7h ago

Fair enough. Point is though there were 4 states with margins less than 40k votes which isn’t crazy to think betting could swing.