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Can you bet on the outcome of an election?

Election 2022 Party Switchers
Posted at 1:05 PM, Oct 31, 2022
and last updated 2022-10-31 15:06:18-04

It's anyone's guess what the midterm election results will be, and one company will pay you six figures if you can guess correctly.

Kalshi calls itself a forecasting app and will give $100,000 to anyone who can pick the winners of every U.S. congressional race this year.

Kalshi wants to take things a step further by allowing people to bet on the results of elections.

Experts say the pros and cons of the proposal are not the same as other forms of gambling. A rival app, Predict It, launched a few years ago to take bets on U.S. elections.

Federal regulators allowed it to operate in this country because it claimed to be a nonprofit and is run by a university. But in August, regulators told Predict It that it would have to shut down next year. They did not give a reason.

Experts say security is an ongoing concern.

Bloomberg reports that regulators will block Kalshi's proposal for betting on election results, but so far, there has not been an official vote.

Regulators did not respond to our requests for comment.