If you’re concerned by how rapidly gambling has become ingrained in U.S. culture, this sportsbook’s latest offering may be cause for outright alarm: FanDuel is now letting users bet on the number of Americans who will be killed during post-election civil unrest.
Wow…while gambling can certainly be fun, letting people bet on political violence feels like a moral gray area, no?
FanDuel has released betting lines for the number of casualties that will occur in the fallout of tonight’s election results, with a current over/under set at a 250.5 body count—suggesting that Vegas oddsmakers don’t anticipate full-on civil war, but are confident that protests in reaction to either candidate’s victory will end in a significant number of fatalities. Bettors can also make wagers on whether the majority of deaths will be protestors (-110) or members of the police force sent to control public demonstrations (+250), and, most controversially, whether one presidential candidate will be among those killed in the aftermath (+1400), or both (+3000). So far, FanDuel users have bet over $12 million on these reactionary violence lines, setting up the sportsbook for a big payday regardless of who takes office.
If FanDuel’s intention was to get people more involved in politics, they missed the mark, because this comes off as pretty wrong-headed.
It’s honestly a little hard for us to respect gambling companies who profit off death and bloodshed. We all need a little escape from election anxiety, but this just seems counterproductive. What do you think?
