Stop asking the oracle
If there are ample of advertisements for betting agencies at any other time, during the World Cup they acquire the characteristics of a deluge. No surprise there. Since the casino on Mount Parnitha and the other eight “land-based” – as they are officially described – establishments are not enough to meet the needs of legalized gambling, five (so far) online ones had to be added. So that everyone can play everywhere on their smartphones – ad nauseam.
The only surprise is the negligence of live casino game providers to enrich their menus with a game that allows players to bet on the date of an election, along with other staples such as blackjack, poker and baccarat.
Let them call it black ballot, balloter, balloccarat or whatever else the minds of advertisers can conjure, rivaling in flamboyant ingenuity the minds of those who make a living as speechwriters for high-profile people. The theme of the game would be simple: Guess the Sunday of the next general election and win a five-day stay at the hotel The Good Old Pythia in Delphi. Or in Marathi, near Hania on Crete.
Not even the most naive believe that when government officials deliberate over which is the “right” Sunday on which to pin their hopes they are doing so with the “general interest” in mind. After all, this phrase is as elastic as the term “national security,” the invocation of which legitimized an industry of wiretaps. The general interest has always been narrowed to comply with the party’s interest, since those in government have always understood themselves as synonymous to the country and govern on the basis of this very belief.
The government vows it wants to exhaust its four-year term. However, the pre-election climate was established at the end of the summer due to the government’s own self-serving initiatives: leaks to control social responses, statements by ministers, counter-statements by their colleagues, etc, culminating in the statement of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis 10 days ago in the Athenian district of Kallithea: “The atmosphere already smells of elections.”
But this could be the conclusion of someone who sees the game from the outside, not the top player’s. Those who do not make decisions are entitled to ask as many oracles as they like to help them guess if the elections will be held in February or April and put their money down accordingly with any illegal bookmaker. But if those who need to decide are also asking the oracle instead, they are undermining their own credibility – and their institutional responsibility.
