You can bet on anything these days, but should you?

When I was growing up in Memphis, gambling was illegal in the state of Tennessee. Fortunately for Delta region residents, you could drive across state lines to Mississippi if you wanted to visit a casino.

Then in 2004, when I was 15, Tennessee launched its state lottery. Proceeds went to the HOPE scholarship, a statewide grant for local students attending Tennessee colleges and universities.

Since then, it seems like gambling has exploded, especially since 2018, when the Supreme Court made sports betting legal. 

And nowadays, it feels like you can bet on almost any kind of event, even beyond sports. However, is it safe to bet on presidential elections, Oscar winners or celebrity breakups? 

What can you bet on?

First, understand the difference between a regulated legal bet and an off-shore betting app or website. Regulated betting can include both digital betting that occurs on an app or website or in-person betting that occurs at a casino or through off-track betting. Gambling and betting is legal under U.S. federal law, but that’s not all.

“It’s also regulated by the governing bodies of those respective sports, like the NFL, NBA and MLB,” said David Vinturella, sports betting and marketing expert at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

Sports betting is regulated by each state individually — not by the federal government. What you can bet on also depends on where you live. There are 12 states that don’t allow betting, including California and Texas. 

“That area is highly licensed and highly regulated by the state regulators,” said Quinton Singleton, gaming expert and president/chief operational officer of Microbetting analytics startup nVenue.

Major U.S.-based platforms, like FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM, stick to sports because it’s one of the few events that no one can truly predict. If you bet on the Oscars, there’s a non-zero chance that you know the outcome. If you bet on the winner of “The Great British Bake Off,” there’s a chance that you’re friends with a producer who’s given you an inside scoop.

Funnily enough, it only became legal to bet on the U.S. presidential election in early October, despite there being no way for someone to know the outcome ahead of time.

What is unregulated betting?

While apps like BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel are some of the most popular betting apps, sites like Polymarket and Predictit have become more well-known. 

Through Polymarket and Predictit, you can bet on major pop culture events like the Oscars, whether Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will break up or get engaged or who will be announced as the next James Bond. 

However, sites that offer betting on non-athletic events are different from the more famous sports betting companies. First, they’re almost always based outside the U.S., which means they’re not subject to U.S. betting regulations. 

This can hurt you if you place a bet, win and don’t receive the promised payout. If you wanted to file a dispute, you’d have little recourse.

“You’re essentially conducting an illegal transaction in the United States,” Vinturella said. “So if you were to go to the Better Business Bureau and say, ‘Hey, I placed an illegal bet in an unregulated market in an organization not based in the U.S.,’ there’s virtually nothing they could do.”

Another issue is that sites like Polymarket require users to jump through hoops to place a bet. First, you don’t just put down a sum of money — you have to buy shares. Fortunately, you’re not locked in. You can sell your shares before the event.

“That’s the power of prediction markets. If something new happens, you’re not stuck where you are,” said Thomas S. Gruca, professor at the University of Iowa and director of the Iowa Electronic Markets, an online prediction market.

There’s another barrier to entry: Technically, U.S. citizens aren’t allowed to use Polymarket.

“It’s all theoretically people outside the U.S.,” Gruca said.

Also, if you want to bet on Polymarket, you can’t just deposit money from your bank account or credit card and start placing bets. You have to use crypto, which can be a hassle for some users. However, U.S. citizens are allowed to bet via Predictit. You also don’t have to use cryptocurrency to place bets.

Whether you’re using a site like Polymarket or Predicit or a traditional sports betting app, the risk is the same as with any other kind of bet.

“It depends on what you’re using it for,” Gruca said. “If you’re using it to make money, make sure you know more than the people already participating.”