Donald Trump started his 2016 political campaign at odds of 100/1. His journey to the White House was incredible, improbable, and full of twists and turns including numerous scandals and leaked recordings.
This saw his odds fluctuate between the 100/1 outsider all the way up to 13/8 at one point, before dropping back again after yet more bad press.
At that point, three weeks before the results would be announced and at odds of 9/2, Paddy Power made the call that enough was enough, surely this vulgar tasteless man who seemed incapable of showing empathy or humility would not win the race.
In their opinion, the White House was Hilary’s, so they stuck their neck out and paid over $1million to people who had backed her.
However, an FBI investigation into her personal emails changed the playing field once again and The Donald ended up sneaking the title of 45th President of the United States from under her, despite losing the popular vote. Hilary might have had more overall votes but Donald “grab ’em by the pu$$y” Trump won more states, and that’s what counts in the US of A.
This meant that Paddy Power now had to pay out all of those people who had backed Trump as well, and since he had been at much longer odds for much of his campaign, as well as gathering momentum towards the end attracting more bets at shorter odds, their second bill for the market was over $4.5million.
Ouch!
How Did Paddy Power Handle it?
As you might expect, they didn’t take it very seriously at all.
To be fair to Paddy Power they took it in their stride, joking about the huge loss with their typical laddish sense of humour, and proving that they are as happy to laugh at themselves as at other people.
They joked that Donald’s win had “Left serious question marks over our company Christmas party” also going on to say,
“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.”
They then went on to offer a string of other Trump themed markets, some serious, some not so much:
- To be re-elected in 2020 – 4/1
- To appear in court during his term – 6/4
- To be successfully impeached – 10/1
- To build a Mexican border wall – 20/1
- To turn the White House into gold – 100/1
They even went as far as to hire a ‘Head of Trump Betting’ to handle the many markets they would end up offering during his term. Yes, this was a real job role that was filled by a man called Joe Lee.
The job advert read:
“We want to make American politics great again. Because, let’s face it, there’s no chance Trump will.
With more than 100 special bets online, the successful candidate will monitor and manage existing Trump markets while devising new specials to launch.
They will also need to build a wall around the hub to ensure foreign bets don’t get in.”
The job might have had a shelf life but it must have been fun while it lasted!