[Jimmah]

Lovely

[GoCards]

who is paddy power and hope he is wrong

[KarlInOhio]

Hopefully he also has to pay the Romney bettors on Wednesday.

[MestaMachine]

WTH is paddy power and why the h3ll should I care???

[goldstategop]

Intrade and Paddy Power are true believers in an Obama landslide!

"Dear friends, Intrade and Paddy Power prove the predictive strength of the markets. We know elections are decided the old-fashioned way: we pay out good money for it!"

[verum ago]

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.

This seems pretty typical of Europe right now. If your news about the US comes mainly from the BBC and your polls from Reuters/Ipsos, you'd think it was a done deal too.

[Nifster]

obviously spent to much time at the bar.....Tuesday (wednesday Irish time) this yob will be more than embarrassed....he will be doubly out of money

[Lacey2]

C’mon people, who the hell would believe a bookie would pay of on a bet before the event happens?

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.

[Izzy Dunne]

national polls show voters remain largely undecided

There are very few undecided voters left, dumbo writer.

Perhaps you mean "largely evenly divided".

[Gay State Conservative]

Europeans overwhelming favor Osama Obama.Assuming “paddy power” is a European person or entity it's not difficult to understand his/her/its confidence.

[Lacey2]

C’mon people, who the hell would believe a bookie would pay of on a bet before the event happens?

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.

[AU72]

Between now and the when the first actual returns comes in I’m ignoring all election news as disinformation peddling FUD, fear incertainty, and doubt.

[Wonka]

I remember that Houston used to have “Owner Has Brain Damage” brand used cars.

The assumption was that you could take advantage of the intellectually diminished.

Just like ‘loose slots’ in Vegas or Owner Has Brain Damage in Houston, Ireland has a bookie, Paddy Power that might payoff even on a bet that you lost.

This sort of thing appeals to gamblers of a particular sort. It is positive advertising, of a kind.

And given the Obama wash of Euro-media, he probably thinks he has better chances of not paying off Romney punters than he really does.

[COBOL2Java]

"Uh, yeah, Paddy? What's the payout for a Romney win?"

[Shady]

Aren’t they going to be surprised...and broke.....

[EEGator]

They’re Irish, I’m guessing they’re piss drunk.

[Raycpa]

How much money would it take to skew these betting places?

[TruthWillWin]

Paddy Power is paying out to punters who backed Barack Obama to win the US Presidential election 2012.

???

What about runningbacks, quarterbacks, of defensive backs or ......?

[nkronos]

Publicity stunt.

Read Wikipedia entry on them. They have a history of pulling outlandish gimmicks to attract attention.

[Eagle Forgotten]

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.

[SamAdams76]

This sounds like a publicity stunt, nothing more. I looked up some info on this outfit and they have a reputation for zany stunts and advertising gimmicks. One time, they placed transvestites in the audience at a sporting event and launched an advertising campaign about it - it was called "Spot the Stallions from the Mares" - and it riled up all the politically correct people.

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.