Comment Text:
In the 2020 election cycle, mistrust of our elections spread like wildfire.
While far-right conspiracy theories around the 2020 Election are baseless, the last thing we need is a legitimate reason for people to question the outcomes of our elections:
- malicious bettors could use artificial intelligence to create false or misleading videos aimed at changing popular opinion and maximizing their chances of winning a bet;
- people could intimidate election officials in order to win bets, or harass and accuse them or wrongdoing if the outcome loses them money;
- politics is already a team sport, where people root for their party rather than learning about policy. Political betting would only make people even more singularly focused on the success of their party rather than on what governments are actually doing.
The CFTC should not add fuel to the fire of election-conspiracy theories or ambush election officials with attacks from highly-motivated bettors.
