Within days, over $6.3 million had been wagered on the Harris-Trump race alone.
WASHINGTON: Millions of dollars have flowed into bets on the U.S. presidential election after a last-minute court ruling cleared the way for legal gambling on the outcome, raising the stakes in a closely contested race that has voters on edge.
On Friday, contracts predicting a Harris victory were trading between 48% and 50% on Interactive Brokers, a platform that capitalized on a recent legal breakthrough in the ongoing regulatory battle over election markets in the U.S.
With less than a month until the November 5 vote, markets opened following a Washington court ruling that allowed Kalshi, a startup pushing for political betting in the U.S., to take wagers while regulatory appeals against the company proceed.
In just a few days, over $6.3 million was staked on the Harris-Trump matchup, with additional bets placed on control of Congress.
This is the latest chapter in a long-running dispute between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and companies seeking to offer election betting, which is legal in many other countries. Some Americans participate through offshore markets, outside of U.S. regulators’ purview.
On one such platform, Polymarket, more than $1.7 billion had been wagered on the Harris-Trump race, where Trump held a 54 to 45 advantage over Harris as of Friday evening.
Proponents of election betting, or “event contracts” in financial terms, argue that it provides a legitimate way to hedge against potential outcomes, comparing it to futures contracts. They also claim that betting markets may offer better predictions than traditional polls.
“These contracts are significant,” said Steve Sanders, executive vice president of marketing and product development at Interactive Brokers. “They allow people to express their views on the election and hedge their portfolios.”
In just a few days, over a million contracts had been traded on Interactive Brokers.