Posted on 11/04/2012 9:34:32 AM PST by Jimmah
Paddy Power pays out £400,000 on Obama victory in U.S. Presidential election
Paddy Power is paying out to punters who backed Barack Obama to win the US Presidential election 2012.
There’s still two days to go before America votes and national polls show voters remain largely undecided with nothing more than a sheet of ballot paper between Democrat Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney.
But Paddy Power believes it’s a done deal and Obama is a nailed-on certainty to win a second term.
I think Paddy’s been hitting the POWER’S IRISH a wee bit.
How much money would it take to skew these betting places?
I think Paddy’s been hitting the POWER’S IRISH a wee bit.
???
What about runningbacks, quarterbacks, of defensive backs or ......?
Publicity stunt.
Read Wikipedia entry on them. They have a history of pulling outlandish gimmicks to attract attention.
This makes no sense. Even if he thinks he’s doomed, why would he pay off now instead of waiting a few days? Also, if he’s sure Obama will win, he could buy Obama contracts on Intrade and cover (or at least reduce) his losses on the current bets.
While I was typing a question, you posted the answer. Seeing this announcement purely as a publicity stunt, rather than something serious, it makes more sense.
This is really nothing more than a large bet on Obama.
If Obama wins, Paddy is out nothing. If Romney wins, they lost their bet—but by announcing it in this fashion, they at least get some free publicity from the loss: “We’re a great bookie; we even pay off early!”
Moreover, if this publicity drives up the odds against Romney, they cover their bet by buying Romney for a reduced price.
It’s a gambler’s hustle, not a political prediction.
C'mon people, who the hell would believe a bookie would pay of on a bet before the event happens?
Even the old Ronald Reagan adage would not apply here. This was "trust, but verify". I would not give much for this statement and indeed how can one verify it? I did look up the general London bookies odds.
15/8 Mitt Romney. 2/5 Barack Obama.
Roughly speaking just under double one's stake if Mitt wins and a bit more than half one's stake if Barack wins. These seem like sensible odds. Not like some of the silly publicized bets on the impossible, which the bookies could hardly pay anyway.
Always get a laugh out of the great steeple chase classic in shabby post war England. It was the Grand National. The Communist newspaper (banned briefly in WW2) went the party line and tipped "Russian Hero". Absolutely ridiculous of course- what do they know?
Russian Hero won at 66-1.
A bit of topic, but surely all of us need a good laugh!.
They also have a history of paying out early on other events as well. I think that's part of their wild and crazy image. They might be paying out 400,000 pounds for no reason at all but the publicity they will get from this stunt is probably worth millions of pounds in advertising.
Care to explain what happens after Romney wins? Do you think these people will simply all hand him back the cash?
Some foks here have totally taken leave of the last dregs of whatever common sense they had."
Damn, noob, bet much?
Paddy pre-paying out on Tiger is a true story. You could have googled it but I like a noob who headers into an empty pool.
Paddy does this all the time for the pr. 400,000 is a nothingburger to them; they'll be all the talk -- at least in the chattering classes UK on Monday; and it also creates churn, as many of these chumps are likely to attempt a double-down on Bobo.
I would never have made a bookie by profession!
Ol’Paddy ain’t that dumb. He’s probably just trying to balance his “books”. Putting out a phony story in one direction gets the crowd to bunch up in the other direction. He doesn’t bet against the crowd. He gets the crowd to bet against each other and makes his money on the pay-out. Sounds from this like he’s a bit heavy on Romney-wins bets and needs a few Obama fishes to take the other side. I don’t know the Irish rules but I imagine they take bets until Monday night.
The rubes get they’re payout on Obama then being the degenerate gamblers they are turnaround and bet their winnings on Obama at a higher price.
Classic pump and dump just like the stock market
I didn’t see anywhere where Paddy’s isn’t taking anymore bets on Obama.
Sounds like part of an Irish joke.
The punchline probably refers to a dozen Irishmen, whiskey, and a potato.
No I don’t but what does my time here have to do with my credibility or anuyone elses credibility?
Can you even give a sensible answer to the question? Tell us ALL the correlation between the two? Who says the story is true to begin with? You saw it here so it must be true...tright?
Or maybe folks with a lot of time on the forum are just buttheads.
Somebody needs to tell Daniel Negreanu.
He’s got hundreds of thousands riding on Obama winning.
LOL!
That’s absolutely hilarious.
I thought Paddy Power was the motto of the Green Panthers.
so if Romney wins then PP has to eat the 400K they have already paid out ?
LOL! i think these guys may become famous after the election, but not in the way they would want.
PP have a 100:1 bet on a Romney landslide, i would put a couple of hundred on that if they took bets from Canada. (landslide = romney wins by more than 10%)
i don’t think it’s the most likely outcome but it’s better than 100:1.
even nate silver admits there have been two elections in the past 30 years where the pools were 5% or more optimistic on democrats, in both cases they were democratic incumbents running for re-election.
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