Comment Text:
Do not approve legalized gambling on elections! Gambling on elections is an absolutely terrible idea that threatens the very foundations of representative democracy.
Such a move would furnish powerful financial incentives for manipulation of and interference in elections by organized crime and other powerful special interests, thereby undermining both the integrity of elections and public confidence in democratic institutions. It would also create incentives for the widespread propagation of disinformation, already a serious problem in the present electoral landscape. Finally, such a move would furnish strong incentives for stakeholders to deny or refuse to accept the outcome of elections, as Trump and has allies have already attempted to do, even *without* further incentives.
Democracy can only function if there is broad agreement upon a social contract in which losers of elections accept defeat, as John McCain did, and in which there is nearly universal acceptance of the integrity of the election process. The misguided idea of betting on elections would gravely compromise both these bedrock (and imperiled) foundations of American democracy.
