Bookie Declares Obama The Winner, Already Paying Out Bets On 2012 Election
A bookie in the UK has already called the 2012 Election in the incumbent Barack Obama’s favor. What’s more, he’s already paying out bets on the future leadership of the United States.
Though the polls have been tilting back and forth all day between President Barack Obama and his GOP opponent Mitt Romney, Paddy Power, one of the largest bet shops in Ireland and the UK, is already shelling out coin to those who laid odds on a second term for Obama.
(A “bet shop,” for the uninitiated, is a book-maker that places bets on anything and everything, notes MSN.)
CBS reports that 75 percent of UK bet-placers laid their odds on President Obama, so the payout probably isn’t all that lucrative. The bet shop is likely just cutting its losses: though individual payouts will be slim, the pre-election payout bill runs well over $500,000.
“Romney gave it a good shot and is doing well in the popular vote, but we suspect he’s had his moment in the sun and is likely to be remembered more for his legendary gaffes than presidential potential,” Paddy Power said in a statement. “The overall betting trend has shown one-way traffic for Obama and punters seem to have called it 100 percent correct.”
Just because Paddy Power is already paying-out doesn’t mean that you still can’t place bets. A “punter” can still get in on the action and lay a bet on any aspect of the race. Here are the odds:
“It’s 100 to 1 that President Obama and Mitt Romney will get the same number of Electoral College votes; 11 to 1 that Romney will win the popular vote but Obama will win where it matters — in the Electoral College; 50 to 1 that the opposite will happen, and 16 to 1 that Obama will win in a landslide. Point-spread bets are being taken as well.”
Though the early payout has gotten Paddy Power a few headlines, it’s likely that they just feel the way the rest of us do: Impatient for all of this to end, so that we can get back to the things that matter. In the case of the bet shop, that probably means horses.
Who do you think will win the election?
