# Legal betting on the presidential election.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-betting-on-the-presidential-election/767447>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 2, 2016, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-betting-on-the-presidential-election/767447 "2016-10-02T05:54:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-betting-on-the-presidential-election/767447/1 "2016-10-02T05:54:13Z")

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Is there a website that offers \*\*legal \*\*betting/wagers on the presidential election?

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**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-betting-on-the-presidential-election/767447/2 "2016-10-03T03:41:30Z")

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If you are American, this is not legal. It is a violation of US law to gamble on an election.

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-betting-on-the-presidential-election/767447/3 "2016-10-03T06:57:53Z")

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The [Iowa Electronic Markets](http://tippie.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/) can be seen as a form of gambling on elections. [PredictIt](https://www.predictit.org/market/1234/who-will-win-the-2016-us-presidential-election) has a similar market-based system, as does [Intrade](https://d1.intrade.com/).

I don’t know how they get around federal law.

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-betting-on-the-presidential-election/767447/4 "2016-10-03T08:34:18Z")

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According to [Why is it now legal to gamble on the 2016 elections?](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/1008/Why-is-it-now-legal-to-gamble-on-the-2016-elections)

> [@](#):
>
> In fact, in 2012, the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates futures and option markets, prohibited political predictions markets on the grounds that they are “contrary to the public interest.”
> 
> That same year, it also sued and shuttered\*\* Intrade\*\*, an Irish prediction marketplace similar to PredictIt.
> 
> So why is **PredictIt** now allowed?
> 
> Because the government has said it won’t prosecute because **PredictIt** , an operation of the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and the political technology firm Aristotle, exists for academic purposes.