European bettors can already wager on the outcome of American elections, but it won't happen here anytime soon. Las Vegas odds-makers are expanding the things they will accept bets on -- but not that.
Rice Political Science professor Mark Jones says the house doesn't see enough profit in it.
“They came to the conclusion that it's not worth it,” Jones says. “That the political noise it could create and the (possible) intervention of the government, isn't worth the money that they might gain.”
If you think all the polls can affect the vote, what if you heard your candidate was an 8-to-5 underdog? Those odds could be set by the number of people betting -- and not by the likelihood one candidate or the other might win.
“The odds of someone winning reflect what bettors and the house believe,” he says, “not what reality necessarily is.”