Humans Bet on Politics??

Princess Clementine, Political Correspondent for Animal Rights

Fri August 28, 2019

I decided I’d need to find a wide variety of websites to do my pre-visit research on the Presidential candidates.  Some websites are partisan, others seem to be made from the gasses given off by rancid cheese, but a few seem to report on the candidates honestly.  The candidates’ own pages might be great for initial information on their positions on animals, but so far none that I’ve looked at have any information at all on the treatment and rights of animals. 

One of the oddest things I found was a British website where they post the odds on the US Presidential Race from a bunch of online bookmakers.  Oddly enough, Americans do not seem to be allowed to bet on the contest.  As I explored the website further and tried to actually place a bet (sorry, yarn lady), it said that it could not accept bets from my region.  I guess since we get to vote, we shouldn’t also be allowed to bet on the race.  Come to think of it, you bet on horse races, why not Presidential races?  But, thinking a bit more, jockeys can’t bet on any race they are in, so maybe it makes sense, at least in light of all the rules humans have about things.

Anyway, it blew my mind that there were people at multiple companies sizing up the candidates and determining how likely it was that each would win.  The names are in order of likelihood, so from this the Brits seem to think we’ll have Mr. Trump with us for another four years.  I’m sure these odds will change considerably after the primaries, and I’ll be sure to check back then.

Oddschecker also has betting odds for stuff related to humans in American politics.  One bookmaker lays the odds at 8 to 1 that Melania Trump will be found to be living with another man during the current administration and 200 to 1 that she’ll run for president herself.  Since she’s a naturalized citizen and can’t run for president, that should be a zillion to 1. 

Most of these “Outrights” and “Specials” (I have no clue what these are, but they seem to be types of betting contests) are either quite anti-Trump or making fun of him.  I’m not sure whether this means the Brits dislike him that much, or whether the people who frequent these betting sites have way too much time on their hands. 

And in case you were wondering, I never found a bookmaker that would accept my bet.  I’d even carefully copied down all the information from the yarn lady’s debit card so I could open an account.