Paddy Power is £4.5m out of pocket after Donald Trump’s unlikely victory in the US Presidential Race makes it the biggest non-sporting gambling event in UK history.
There was a reason I quit gambling.
I would make stupid bets like placing a £5 treble that Leicester City would win the English Premier League, the UK would vote to leave the European Union (EU), and the next US President would be Donald Trump.
My viewpoint was always, “it’s got to be worth a fiver, right?”
I think I quit too soon.
A £5 treble on that extraordinary series of events would have netted me £15m.
It’s enough to make me want to come back out of retirement.
I do have the gambling bug. It’s back, and it’s not because of that mind-boggling £15m treble. As I sat, watching the map of the US turning redder as the night wore on I realised that I was witnessing the greatest gambling event in non-sporting history. The media coverage was forcing my dopamine receptors to open their mouths wider than a baby bird searching for the worm.
And I wasn’t alone.
The Biggest Non-Sporting Event in British Betting History
CNN Money called the US Election the biggest non-sporting betting event in the UK’s history after punters spent more than £150m on the outcome, greater even that the Brexit referendum.
Ladbrokes told a CNN representative that they were taking on average 35 bets per minute.
William Hill took a bet of €550,000 from one female punter who was backing Hillary Clinton. She was looking at a €220,000 windfall if the polls had proven right. There were also bets of £150,000 and £183,200 on Clinton to win, both from female punters.
Spreadex took a £200,000 bet from a man backing Trump (he has just won £500,000), and John Mappin from Cornwall has won over £100,000 after placing over 30 bets on Donald Trump over a prolonged period.
Paddy Power Stung For $4.5 Million
Forget building walls; Paddy Power is in a £4.5m hole thanks to Donald Trump’s unlikely win.
The Irish bookmaker made the rather unwise decision to pay out $1.1m in bets on Hillary Clinton last month because they believed she was a dead-cert.
At the time of the payout, Paddy Power said that Clinton was an 85.7% favourite to take the White House. They paid out more than 6,000 punters but kept accepting further bets on a Donald Trump win to the tune of another $3.5m.
Fortunately, the losses haven’t wiped the smirk off the Irish funsters faces.
Here are some Donald Trump specials:
• 4/1 on Trump building a wall covering the entirety of the US/Mexico border by 2020.
• 10/1 on Trump to be successfully impeached before the end of 2020.
• 12/1 on Hillary Clinton being arrested before the end of 2020.
• 66/1 on Donald Trump painting the White House gold.
I think I will have a punt on the gold bet.
