Dave Sanders for The New York Times/Pool)
While politicians are far from perfect, American politics has created a “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” environment that doesn’t necessarily make it easier for them to always tell the truth. You could see that internal struggle unfolding on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s face when asked if he’d ever placed a sports bet.
Regardless of what side of the aisle you fall on, people on both ends of the political spectrum will usually say they want their leaders to be “relatable.” The old would-you-want-to-get-a-beer-with-this-person hypothetical.
Viral video shows NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani trying to figure out how to answer whether he’d ever placed a sports bet
Whether or not you’d want to get a drink with Mayor Mamdani is subjective. His reaction to being asked whether he’d ever placed a sports bet, however, was objectively universal: a mix of consideration, recollection, regret, and ultimately, decision — a decision to just let the moment pass without saying much.
Anyone who has ever placed a bet has likely been in this position, whether they’re being asked by a friend how much they lost or by a significant other whether they engage in the hobby at all. This is basically the exact face I’d make if I were at Thanksgiving dinner and my brother-in-law’s conversation about the biggest bet they’ve ever lost was making its way to my side of the table.
.@AOC & @NYCMayor say they’re getting into football (because of @GovKathyHochul ?) and the @BuffaloBills are their team outside Murphy’s in Astoria https://t.co/gRWvQjxdnm
— Bernadette Hogan (@bern_hogan) November 1, 2026
zo’s reaction to the “have you ever placed a sports bet” question is sending me https://t.co/4oFxp8pSn2
— Sam Alberti (@sam_alberti) November 1, 2026
Mamdani’s calculus was likely this: if he answers yes, that potentially leads to a follow-up about what and how much he’s won or lost. If he answers no, he’s probably lying. Better to just keep his mouth shut and let AOC and Kathy Hochul do the talking.
The NYC mayor is famously an avid Arsenal, New York Knicks, and New York Mets fan, and the nature of modern sports is such that if you’re engaged with it, you’ve likely bet on it, at least once — over half of men aged 18 to 49 (52%) hold an active online sports betting account.