WASHINGTON, D.C.—Better Markets and Public Citizen, joined by 21 organizations and individuals, sent a joint letter to Chair Rostin Behnam at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) supporting the CFTC’s proposal to amend its rules concerning political event contracts.
In the letter, the organizations explain that allowing Americans to bet on elections through event contracts poses substantial and multifaceted threats to our democratic processes, financial market integrity, public trust, and the CFTC’s important mission of serving the American people.
“Gambling on elections will further undermine Americans’ faith and trust in them and threaten democracy by incentivizing manipulation and interference,” said Dennis Kelleher, co-founder, president and CEO of Better Markets. “When there’s hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars on the line, there can be little doubt that some individuals or groups might attempt to influence election outcomes to win their bets. These people don’t care about a candidates’ positions or if elections reflect the will of the voters; they view politics as something to be ‘played’ and only care about winning money. This not only threatens the fairness and outcome of elections but also encourages unethical and potentially illegal activities aimed at skewing the results. At a time when Americans’ confidence in elections is decreasing, the last thing our country needs is for democracy to be undermined further by allowing gambling on elections and incentivizing election interference.”
“The CFTC has zero experience or expertise in regulating betting on US elections,” said Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of Public Citzen. “Elections are not a commodity, but they are the bedrock of a functioning democracy. Allowing election gambling to proceed would undermine and add rigged incentives to our already overly- moneyed system. In the current environment, where public concern about the integrity of our democracy has never been higher, we simply cannot allow an activity that will undercut our democratic process.”
The organizations also support the need to clarify the definition of “gaming.” The CFTC can effectively identify and regulate any event contract involving political contests when it is categorized as gaming, including not only the outcomes of elections but also candidate entries or withdrawals and polling results. A comprehensive approach is necessary to address all potential avenues for speculative gambling on political events and close any possible loopholes.
The joint letter is available here. You can learn more about the efforts to allow gambling on elections here.
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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies—including many in finance—to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.org.
