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On Tuesday, West Virginia became the first state to offer legal betting on the next U.S. presidential election. But, it was short-lived as the odds were taken down after about 15 minutes.
FanDuel, the sportsbook that posted the odds, was under the impression they had approval from the West Virginia Lottery, but they did not. FanDuel released this statement to MarketWatch after the odds were taken down:
“While the markets were approved, the West Virginia Lottery has asked FanDuel to refrain from offering the markets until they have time to fully work through the implications of this new market offering.”
Because the 2018 PASPA ruling by the Supreme Court took away much of the federal government’s power to regulate betting, it’s up to individual states to legislate it. Because of this, FanDuel and other sportsbooks have to get the proper state approval before offering election betting.
The West Virginia Lottery could give that approval.
“It is my understanding that we were asked by the sportsbooks to allow betting on the presidential election and it is being reviewed,” a West Virginia Lottery spokesperson told Legal Sports Report. “I think possibly someone jumped before being given an approval.”
A source has confirmed to MarketWatch that one wager on the winner of the 2020 presidential election was accepted by FanDuel, but it was voided and money returned to the customer
Here were the odds posted by FanDuel before they were taken down:
Winner of 2020 Election (Trump -110, Biden +125)
Democratic Nomination (Biden -714, Cuomo +1400, Sanders +1600)
Democratic Vice Presidential Nomination (Harris +188, Klobuchar +400)
U.S. Presidential Election 2020 – Winning Party (Republican -125, Democrat -110)
For those not familiar with oddsmaking, a “-” symbol indicates a favorite and a “+” symbol indicates an underdog. For example, a $100 bet placed on a +400 side would net a $400 profit, in addition to getting back the original $100. For favorites, it would take a $125 bet to win $100 on something with the odds -125.
After the odds were posted, Bernie Sanders announced he is suspending his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, clearing the path for former Vice President Joe Biden to secure the nomination.
When it comes to betting on anything politics-related, an important distinction is political betting vs election betting. With most sports on hiatus during the coronavirus outbreak, sportsbooks have been looking for ways to attract bettors, and one way they are doing that is through politics.
MarketWatch chronicled how sportsbooks offered Democratic debate bets in March. Some bets included which candidate, Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden, would say “coronavirus” more often, and whether or not “Iraq” would be mentioned.
These prop bets are not settled by the outcome of elections, and can be offered by sportsbooks.
As of now, no legal U.S. sportsbook is offering betting on United States political election outcomes.
