Chris Christie backs political betting
It hasn’t happened yet, but Chris Christie would like to see New Jersey Sportsbooks offering betting odds on political events.
Christie is the former Republican Governor of New Jersey who ran for President against Donald Trump. He made his point about political betting at the Global Gaming Expo (GGE) on Tuesday.
He was speaking to a small group of reporters following his keynote address at the GGE. And because he was a major player in the lifting of betting prohibition in May last year, they were listening.
“And why not?”He asked. “I mean I don’t see any reason why not. It’s something, again; it goes to the core of the entertainment.
“If people believe it’s something that they want to put a wager on to make it more interesting for them, then why not?
“I don’t know how much more interesting presidential politics could be other than it is right now. If they think betting makes it even more interesting, I don’t have any problem with that.”
Ex-Gov. could also have been talking about Brexit
In this instance Christie was referring specifically to the up-coming US presidential elections. However, he could quite easily have been talking about Great Britain, Brexit and the comings and goings of its Prime Ministers.
Christie said states should have the freedom to allow their sportsbooks to offer political markets. But they should only be allowed to do so if their gambling regulators were confident of maintaining integrity.
“You’ve seen that go on in Great Britain for a long time. I don’t see the reason why, it can’t be allowed here if the regulators believe that they can handle it appropriately.
“People are doing this stuff anyway,” he said. “This is the joke of it all: People are betting on presidential elections, people are betting on the Oscars, they have office pools and all the rest of this stuff. It is all going on anyway.”
Political betting is popular in the UK and other European countries, but it is illegal in the US. You can bet on Trump winning nomination for a second term in London, but not in Jersey City or Philadelphia.
Up till now New Jersey has allowed betting on the Oscars and Emmys, but not much else that isn’t sport.
