
Credit: Adam Schultz Flickr
Donald Trump’s election back in 2016 was a huge shock, an outcome that seemed totally unrealistic at the beginning of his campaign but one that grew as the silent majority got on board and the hysteria grew.
The Brexit vote was another example of something that seemed unlikely to happen but ultimately came to pass, so people got a taste for betting on the improbable, so even though Biden was ahead in the polls, people were betting on Trump doing the impossible twice in a row.
That was certainly true of one unnamed British businessman, reportedly an ex banker, who dropped $5 million on Trump winning the election to serve a second term as President of the United States.
This is thought to be the biggest political wager ever placed.
It is believed that the person in question had contacts in the US who were working on Trump’s campaign, and decided to go all in on the bet after some private conversations. They stood to win almost $15 million if the bet came good.
This would have been a tricky bet to get on with a single bookie in the UK, so it was placed with a private bookmaker based in Curacao instead, at odds of 37/20.
A lot of other people were doing the same thing too, albeit at much smaller stakes; Paddy Power said that 93% of the bets they took in the 24 hours before the election were for Trump, and Ladbrokes made similar comments.
In total, it was estimated that around $400,000,000 were placed in bets on the election.
Trump lost of course, and after delays due to allegations of voter fraud too, so not only did the British businessman lose his $5,000,000, but he had the agony of the loss drawn out too.
Ouch.