There’s not a bookmaker in the world that pays out before the event.
Sorry but I must disagree, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has done this many times before. It is quite apparently a marketing decision that reaps, as we see here, large amounts of publicity.
Still, I put this and Intrade in the same catagory as the multiple reports that we have had on how Obama is far more popular in China, Kenya, Europe and other foreign places. Totally irrelevant and worthy of, at the most, a yawn.
Now, if we could have an investigation of foreign campaign contributions ... that is relevant!
The way I understand intrade is a bettor can sell their shares at any time as soon as they find another user to take over their side of the bet.
Essentially intrade shares can be bought and sold at any time as long as a user finds someone to trade with at a given price. Intrade makes a percentage fee on every transaction (even if the shares change hands before the event takes place).
There’s not a bookmaker in the world that pays out before the event.
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Intrade isn’t a bookmaker ... they don’t set odds ,, just collect monthly membership fees from users ... it is completely possible that people bought obama at a lower price and sold at a higher price ,, it’s really like a stock option that either settles at $0 or $10 ,, the difference is there is no marketmaker... it’s strictly between the members agreeing on prices .. in that way it’s a great place to make money on a far off eventuality when you expect the story-line to change. buy-sell-buy again-sell again ...