GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Is it legal to bet on the outcome of an election?

arg · 10-30-2004, 12:08 PM

If you're in the US, and want to legally bet on a US election in the US, I think your safest (only?) option is the Iowa Electronic Markets, at http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/. You can open an account with a maximum of $500. It's been run for some time as an academic research project of sorts by the U of Iowa, and has a governmental exemption from laws that would otherwise ban such a service.

You may recall after 9/11, a federal (I forget from which department) proposal was made to allow similar betting on future terrorist events, with the hope that it might be useful in identifying national security weaknesses. Public outrage quickly buried the idea.

10-30-2004, 12:08 PM
arg Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 1,164	If you're in the US, and want to legally bet on a US election in the US, I think your safest (only?) option is the Iowa Electronic Markets, at http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/. You can open an account with a maximum of $500. It's been run for some time as an academic research project of sorts by the U of Iowa, and has a governmental exemption from laws that would otherwise ban such a service. You may recall after 9/11, a federal (I forget from which department) proposal was made to allow similar betting on future terrorist events, with the hope that it might be useful in identifying national security weaknesses. Public outrage quickly buried the idea.