Donald Trump ‘All In’ on Gaming: Why Isn’t SCGOP?

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by WILL FOLKS

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Late last month, U.S. president Donald Trump‘s media empire announced it was entering a lucrative new realm of online betting – prediction markets. Pioneered by multiple up-and-coming platforms, prediction markets allow users to place wagers on the outcome of future events – with these binary “event contracts” priced based on probabilities (and traded based on updated information).

One of the leaders in this space is Crypto.com, which recently announced it was partnering with Trump’s Truth Social to turn the latter into “the first social media platform to offer its users technology to access embedded prediction markets capabilities.”

Thanks to the Crypto.com partnership, Truth Social users “will be able to trade prediction contracts related to major events and milestones, such as political elections, interest and inflation rate changes, commodity prices on gold and crude oil, events across al major sports leagues, and more” using a tool called ‘Truth Predict.’

This tool will update prices in real-time, allowing users to “react instantly to developments in major current events.”

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“We are thrilled to become the world’s first publicly traded social media platform to offer our users access to prediction markets,” said Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman who currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Trump Media. “Truth Predict will allow our loyal users to engage in prediction markets with a trusted network while harnessing our social media platform to provide totally unique ways for users to discuss and compare their predictions.”

“For too long, global elites have closely controlled these markets – with Truth Predict, we’re democratizing information and empowering everyday Americans to harness the wisdom of the crowd, turning free speech into actionable foresight,” Nunes added.

Trump’s bet on prediction markets is consistent with his longstanding support for gaming. The former casino owner has made it abundantly clear throughout his business and political careers that he favors the expansion of numerous forms of gambling. Certainly, not all of those bets have always paid off, but isn’t that what the free market is all about?

Also, as I noted in a recent post, doesn’t support for individual liberty mean letting people decide for themselves which markets they want to invest in?

It’s curious, then, how certain supposed Trump acolytes in South Carolina – including embattled SCGOP chairman Drew McKissick – remain staunchly opposed to expanding gaming. They kiss his ring and bend the knee on certain issues, but in this case… they apparently see Trump as the devil.

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RELATED | SCGOP’S GAMBLING HYPOCRISY

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“Gambling preys on the most vulnerable in our communities, leading to addiction, broken families and financial ruin,” McKissick’s party stated in a recent donor-funded broadside. “South Carolina should not open the door to predatory schemes that exploit our citizens and would gamble away our future.”

McKissick has certainly chosen an interesting moment to go “all-in” against a president who is clearly going “all-in” in support of gaming. As we previously reported, McKissick had to rig the SCGOP convention in May to ensure his reelection as chairman – the latest in a long line of heavy-handed moves which have enraged party activists. More recently, the weakened leader went against the wishes of the White House in a failed bid to install his staunch ally, former party chairman Chad Connelly, as one of the Palmetto State’s three representatives to the Republican National Committee (RNC).

Connelly was defeated by Trump’s preferred choice for the job, Richland County GOP leader Tyson Grinstead.

Not only is McKissick hypocritically using the party apparatus to attack various forms of gambling, sources have told FITSNews he is recruiting one of the state’s top religious voices to spearhead a “faith-based” organization to attack specific gaming proposals.

We’ll have more on that development in future coverage… but FITSNews has previously reported on the abject hypocrisy of so many so-called “faith leaders” in South Carolina, two-faced opportunists who preach in opposition to betting but greedily lap up massive payouts from the Palmetto State’s government-run gambling monopoly, the S.C. “Education” Lottery.

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So many of the evangelical leaders who breathlessly beat their chests on the ills of casino gambling or online sports betting are affiliated with religious institutions which receive millions of dollars worth of lottery proceeds.

“They don’t oppose gambling on moral grounds, either,” we noted recently. “If they did, they would refuse to accept lottery money. They oppose private sector gaming because ending the state’s (gambling) monopoly threatens their revenue stream.”

Same goes for all the politicians who perpetually vote to appropriate lottery money: if they really opposed gambling, they would vote against any budget containing so much as a cent from gambling revenues.

Instead, they’ve spend decades appropriating billions from state-sponsored gaming…

Polling shows most South Carolinians support expanded gambling, with 59.2% backing casino gaming and 52% supporting sports betting. We haven’t seen any survey data on prediction markets, but our guess is the level of support would be similarly high.

FITSNews has argued consistently in favor of decriminalizing gambling in the Palmetto State, arguing those who support the current government-run monopoly “are depriving the state of a much larger influx of cash and jobs” by clinging to their hypocritical opposition to private sector competition.

And apparently, their hypocritical opposition to Trump…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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