“It feels like a natural fit for gambling, and I know a lot of the legal sports books would be willing to offer it.”
“With politics, everyone already has an opinion and some skin in the game, as they call it,” Pempus notes. “I think Trump has definitely poured some gasoline on the political betting landscape,” says Brian Pempus, a betting industry expert at, who cited how European bookmakers reported an exponential increase in election betting activity from 2012 to 2016. The current occupant of the White House-polarizing lightning rod of attention and opinion that he is-has undoubtedly played a major role in this heightened popularity. Gambling companies based in the U.K., where political betting is legal, expect wagering on the 2020 election to break records set four years ago, while bookmakers in Las Vegas have speculated that the presidential election could prove a bigger market than the Super Bowl.
While betting on political elections remains illegal in all 50 states-and is subject to strict oversight by the federal Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-there is more interest than ever in betting on U.S.
