Odds are that gambling on the Biden/Trump competition will further reduce the presidential campaign to a horse race

By Allison M. Prasch, Jason Kido Lopez, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Speculation about President Joe Biden’s future as the Democratic nominee for U.S. president is seemingly everywhere: cable television, podcasts, social media, and – perhaps unexpectedly – overseas sports betting websites.

After the first 2024 presidential debate, many of these websites offered wagers about whether Biden would stay in the race.

As scholars of political communication and sports media, we study how online betting platforms usually associated with sports frame U.S. presidential elections.

In our study of the 2020 and 2024 elections, we have found that the bets are more than just ways for people to play with or profit from politics. The bets also highlight distinct aspects of the electoral process and reflect people’s understanding of those elections.

And while people engage with these games for different reasons, it’s also the case that these bets flatten and simplify important electoral issues. Consider some of the bets offered by one platform before the recent presidential debate: “Will Donald Trump or Joe Biden curse on air?” “Will Joe Biden’s age be mentioned during the debate?” and “Will the debate include a question about climate change?”

Betting on Biden

Overseas sports betting websites might be surprising platforms for politics. Though betting on sports has been federally legalized in the U.S., American sports betting companies are not permitted to offer bets on political events.

However, sports betting companies housed outside of American borders offer wagers on who will clinch a party’s presidential nomination and which candidate will win the election. These bets also extend to presidential debates, affording participants the option to predict a candidate’s tie color or who will be the first to take a drink of water.

These bets are organized into a menu and gamblers can choose which bets to wager on and how much money to risk. Each selection is assigned odds, which simultaneously communicate the payout of a winning bet and its probability.

Read Full Story https://theconversation.com/odds-are-that-gambling-on-the-biden-trump-competition-will-further-reduce-the-presidential-campaign-to-a-horse-race-234262