Paddy Power stung for £3.5MILLION as Trump shock victory leaves bookies out of pocket

BOOKIES stand to pay out millions of pounds following President Donald Trump’s drubbing of Hillary Clinton – as one British superfan pocketed more than £100,000.

Punters backing the controversial tycoon will take home thousands of pounds after the shock presidential result.

The traditional bookmaking industry in the UK took around £20 million in total leading up the election.

Paddy Power have been stung with their biggest ever political payout – handing over £3.6 million to British Trump supporters.

The bookmaker had already paid out more than £800,000 early to customers who backed Clinton.

It comes as Trump superfan John Mappin won £103,000 following Trump’s explosive victory.

The hotel owner, from Cornwall, put 33 bets on the billionaire over 18 months to win.

Scientologist John said: “I’m not a betting man but I checked the odds at William Hill and they had him at 20 to 1 for the nominations and 33 to 1 for the presidency, so what I did was rather cheekily took the whole book and put about 33 bets on him.

“I can’t remember exactly but I’m already quite a long way ahead of the situation, because obviously, he did win the nominations so whatever happens I can’t lose, but I think we stand to make about £103,000 if he does come in.”

Sun Bets said Clinton had about an 83 per cent chance of winning at the odds-on price of 1/5 early last night, but as news broke at around 2am, Trump became favourite at 8/11.

A spokesman added: “It’s fair to say that Sun Bets has been Trumped!

“It wasn’t the result we expected or wanted having laid a number of four-figure bets on Trump in the lead-up to the election and throughout last night – the result goes down as one of our biggest losses since launching in August.

“I would imagine that Trump’s victory has cost the industry tens of millions, but thankfully due to us having only been operational for just over three months, our loss will be nothing compared to some of our competitors, who have a much larger established customer base.

“Then as news broke at around 2am, the odds took a full swing. That was a huge indication as to how things would work out, but UK punters didn’t follow suit and started to come in for Clinton.

“Thankfully our loss was reduced by taking a handful of four-figure bets on Clinton in the early hours of the morning, but it wasn’t enough to save us from one of our worst days of trading since launch.”

William Hill took £4 million on the outcome of the US Election – a record total for any political betting event.

They are also having to pay out £101,750 a Nottingham betting shop customer who staked £37,000 in two bets on Trump at odds of 7/4.

A spokesman said: “Donald Trump started as a 150/1 no hoper, but was very well backed, albeit in smaller amounts than we accepted for long-time favourite Hillary Clinton. This campaign absolutely decimated all previous political betting records and shows what a popular betting subject politics is.

“The US Election statistics reflect almost identically the division of stakes and bets for Brexit. The odds on the day for the two candidates were almost identical to the Remain/Leave odds on EU Ref day. Brexit became favourite for the first time just before 2am on EU Ref night, Trump at just after 2am on polling night.”

Paddy Power paid customers who backed Hillary to win £800,000 on September 18 because they were so confident of a Clinton victory.

But leading up to the election, Trump’s odds on winning shortened from 5/1 to 5/2, while Clinton’s lengthened from 2/9 to 1/3 after the FBI re-opened the probe into her private email server.

Spokesman for Paddy Power Féilim Mac An Iomaire told the : “We’re in the business of making predictions and decided to put our neck on the line by paying out early on Hillary Clinton, but boy did we get it wrong.

“We’ve been well and truly thumped by Trump with his victory leaving us with the biggest political payout in the company’s history and some very, very expensive egg on our faces.”

Ladbrokes said Trump is on course to cause the biggest upset in political betting history – a dubious title Jeremy Corbyn once held as the 100/1 outsider for the Labour party leadership.

One punter placed £120,000 on Clinton to storm to victory at odds of 1/6 late last night but cashed out and placed £80,000 on Trump at 5/4 – taking home £180,000 in total.

Jessica Bridge of Ladbrokes said: “Betting on political markets continues to soar and spring surprises. It was a busier night than both our General Election and the Brexit vote, easily making it the biggest non-sporting event we have ever witnessed.”

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