Although the US presidential elections are not until 8 November, Paddy Power has already paid out a total of $1M to punters who have bet on Hilary Clinton winning the coveted position this autumn. According to the Irish bookmaker, it is 85.7% certain that Clinton will be the first female President of the United States of America, following the controversy surrounding the conduct of her opponent, Donald Trump.
Patrick "Paddy" Power, Paddy Power’s PR & Communications spokesperson stated that: “Trump gave it a hell of a shot going from a rank outsider to the Republican candidate but the recent flood of revelations have halted his momentum and his chances now look as patchy as his tan”.
He continues by claiming that “Recent betting trends have shown one-way traffic for Hillary and punters seemed to have called it 100% correct. Despite Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ message appealing to many disillusioned voters, it looks as though America are going to put a woman in the White House.”
Paddy Power boldly states in today’s advertisements that “A woman’s place is in The House”, being the first of their many competitors to call a Clinton win.
There is clear industry precedent for paying out early bets, the most recent of which being Betfred’s decision to pay out on Leicester City winning last season’s Premier League in early April with six games of the season still to play.
The marketing coup of being the first bookmaker to pay out on such a high profile market clearly has a lot of value, but the hasty decision to call the election race over with weeks to go before polling day could still prove a very expensive and embarrassing blunder for the Irish bookmaker.
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