In the digital age, election betting has become a popularized, growing phenomenon, turning democratic processes like voting into a public spectacle. Recently, election betting was legally approved when the 2024 presidential race was in its home stretch. Typically, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates event betting financial contracts, blocks all applications to open election betting. However, the CFTC lost its lawsuit against Kalshi, an exchange and prediction market, last month. The United States District Court sided with Kalshi, allowing the company to open betting markets for the presidential election. 

Political experts, analysts and even casual onlookers can now place their bets on outcomes, turning elections into contests of chance rather than decisions based on thoughtful deliberation. While some may argue that election betting adds to the excitement of the democratic process, it begs the question: Has this shift in perspective from elections being meaningful affairs to mere wagers risked undermining their sincerity?

The rise of election betting markets can be compared to a sporting event.

Instead of traditional democratic participation, such as voting, canvassing or campaigning, voters, commenters and bettors are increasingly focused on the horse race aspect of elections: Who is winning today, who is surging in the polls and who’s the favored pick. The commercialization of politics has magnified this shift in focus.

Political campaigns are no longer only about policies, but also about branding, media strategies and creating a spectacle that appeals to the public’s entertainment sensibility. The media plays a monumental role in the amplification of this spectacle, transforming elections into a high-stakes drama rather than serious discussions of governance and policy. Roughly 49% of Americans receive election-related news on their television screens, and 46% learn the most recent news from social media platforms. When the media circulates misinformation and creates atmospheres that promote polarizing ideals, the discourse surrounding elections is treated more as entertainment by different media corporations that push headlines to add to the “drama.” 

By commercializing politics and focusing on the thrill of the race rather than the policies and consequences of voting for a candidate, politics has turned into a public game where people are more invested in predicting outcomes for profit than understanding policies that aim to better the U.S. This shift to a spectacle-centric model is fueled by the financial incentives of election betting, where outcomes are now commodified. The focus is now on who will win, not the reasoning behind why someone should win. 

With this shift, bookmakers and online betting platforms have seized the opportunity to turn elections into money-making enterprises, most notably the presidential outcomes. The question of whether Vice President Kamala Harris or President-elect Donald Trump would win the presidential election saw $3.2 billion Polymarket bets as of Election Day.

Allowing bettors to wager on the probability of various candidates winning undermines the core principles of elections: informed participation, civic responsibility and collective decision-making for the public good. 

Voters are now less concerned with the substance of policies and more focused on the odds of winning, turning their civic duties into speculative investments. In essence, elections are increasingly treated and viewed as markets to be “gambled” on with the potential for returns. This shift encourages a culture where real government stakes, which may impact peoples’ lives, are overshadowed by the desire for financial gain or following a betting trend.

The risks of this shift are especially apparent in younger generations, who may grow up seeing elections not as a critical function of democracy but as another entertainment spectacle. This kind of disengagement, if left unchecked, could have long-term consequences for democratic participation and the quality of governance in the future.

While election betting is unlikely to disappear any time soon, it’s essential to recognize the risks it poses to the integrity of democracy. By reducing elections to a form of entertainment, focusing more on chances than on the issues and fostering a culture of detachment, betting has turned the political sphere into a casino.

If we want to preserve the sincerity of elections and the democratic process, we must remember that the outcome of an election isn’t just a matter of chance — it’s a matter of collective civic engagement that shapes the future of our nation.

As we move forward, it’s crucial for voters, media outlets and politicians to recalibrate their attitudes toward elections, ensuring they remain focused on informed participation and the values that underpin our democratic system. Betting on elections may add excitement to the race, but it should never come at the expense of the principles that make democracy truly meaningful.