“Who bets $84.00 to win $100?”
Someone who thinks the outcome they bet on is almost a sure thing.
There were many Trump voters, including myself, who thought he was a long shot to win the Electoral College. One can hold that opinion and still bet on a Trump victory if the odds are favorable enough.
An important difference between a betting site and an election is that the former registers the intensity of preference by the participants (bettors), whereas in an election each participant (voter) is counted the same.
I think a simpler explanation for Hillary! being the odds-on favorite than that her supporters were “gaming the system” is that her true believers thought they had a near-sure thing and bid the odds to 5 or 6 to 1 in the process.
I think that’s a decent alternate opinion, but I still don’t think people bet $840 dollars to win $1000.
There’s to much to lose, and these folks got their clocks cleaned.