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!
Sorry I’m not buying it. Way too often in things that people bet on the thing everybody “knows” will happen doesn’t. If the bookie paid off early he then has to go get the money back, that’s just stupid. There’s no margin in it, only bad things can happen. Maybe they announce it, maybe they even cut checks that are post dated but they aren’t paying out early. They also apparently have a rep for not paying out on long odds, which tells you just how honest they are and how much you should believe them when they say they’re paying early.