>>545471709
The ability to bet on literally anything got deregulated. They're getting involved in anything and everything. Politics are big, flashy events that people are already interested in the outcome of, so it's a match made in hell.

It is illegal, they only blew up after Don won in 24 because his DOJ does not enforce the law and is actually trying to stop other states from suing them as illegal gambling because they call futures trading or some similar bullshit.
Hunter got so much shit for his cushy job but you got Don Jr on the board of Polymarket and the only reason they make so much money is they are allowed to run illegal gambling federally

>>545471709
It's wrong. But nobody talks about it because we know the government will wipe everything out

>>545471709
You can bet on the weather, the color of a tv personalities outfits, how many speeding tickets will get written etc on these apps. Theyre predatory as fuck and basically exist to foster and exploit gambling addictions.

>>545471709
>How the fuck did gambling apps get mixed up with politics?
Money

>>545471709
I assume a lot of this traces back to 2016 and its ongoing consequences for politics.
Before that election, polling was still treated as reasonably reliable with margins people generally accepted. When the polls kept projecting a very safe Clinton win that never materialized and in some cases were off by double digits it raised obvious questions about why nearly every pollster was that wrong. A few of them later admitted they had data pointing toward a decent Trump victory but personally disagreed with it, so they nudged the numbers toward a comfortable Hillary margin instead.
The gambling markets at the time still projected a Hillary win, but with a more realistic probability rather than an early election night blowout. At that point those markets were mostly just people (including a lot of dedicated autists) putting real money on what they actually believed were safe bets.
Fast forward to now, and campaigns and activist groups have clearly noticed that large numbers of people no longer trust polls. Betting markets have been able to sell themselves as more accurate even though they’re often wrong for most of the cycle and only correct themselves in the final hours, because a market eventually has to resolve to reality. In an era where modern politics is massively fake and gay the illusion that you’re always winning is almost as important as actually winning. If you are already spending tens or hundreds of millions on a race, and the betting markets are only a few tens of millions in size it’s not hard to drop a few million into them and manufacture a comfortable edge for your side for the entire election cycle.
I assume that’s a big reason most of these platforms have turned into borderline shitty social media/news hybrids full of people making bets based on seething at each other in the comments rather than any real analysis.

>>545472329
It's not illegal gambling.
Casinos do this shit all the time.
Either ban all casinos or legalize all gambling to be able to include eastern demands for it.
Be truly "free" or get left behind by nations that are more free.

>>545471709
politics is sports!
any duel fights can be put into bet, including political race