[extropy-chat] An advance prediction for Tuesday

[Chris Hibbert]

> That's fair.  Where would I put a quick bet on my prediction, legally? 
> (If you happen to know.)

For play money, you could start at foresight exchange and trade as quick 
as you can set up an account, though the initial allowance is low.

http://www.ideafutures.com/
And they have claims on who will control the senate, but not the house:
http://www.ideafutures.com/fx-bin/Claim?claim=RSen06

For real money, quick isn't possible.  The real-money betting sites all 
require deposits (by mail or bank transfer) before betting.

The main sites are:
Iowa Electronic Markets (IEM).  Apparently legal; they have a no-action 
letter from the CFTC.  You can deposit up to $500.
http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem

TradeSports, in Ireland, supports Americans betting on politics.  They 
believe they are legal, but it's not possible to say so with confidence. 
  The recent federal gambling law only explicitly applies to gambling on 
sports, but there are lots of other laws.
https://www.tradesports.com/

Betfair is British or Irish, I think.  They seem to have decided that 
their focus on sports makes them too attractive a target, and they're 
not currently accepting deposits from Americans.  Unless you're an 
experienced gambler, their interface won't make any sense to you.  (They 
use American-style gambling odds rather than percentages.)
http://betfair.com

Chris
-- 
C. J. Cherryh, "Invader", on why we visit very old buildings:
       "A sense of age, of profound truths.  Respect for something
       hands made, that's stood through storms and wars and time.
       It persuades us that things we do may last and matter."

Chris Hibbert
hibbert at mydruthers.com
Blog:   http://pancrit.org
http://mydruthers.com