Although it is not a sport, an irish bookie is paying off folks who bet that Obama would win the election a bit early. I personally think stuff like this could pay off to jink the Obama campaign is off to a ridiculous bit of steam.
The race is over as far as Ireland’s biggest bookmaker is concerned.
Paddy Power PLC says it is so sure Barack Obama will win the U.S. presidential election next month that it paid off Thursday on all bets it had taken backing the Democratic candidate. It said it shelled out more than euro1 million, about $1.35 million.“We declare this race well and truly over and congratulate all those who backed Obama—your winnings await you,” the company said in a statement.
Paddy Power has a long tradition of winning free publicity by paying off early, particularly on political contests—and it also has a recent record of getting the result spectacularly wrong.
All you betting junkies will just have to wait until November 5th to find out if this really is the outcome or if this stupid bookie just lost a windfall of cash because he now has to pay off both sides of the bet.