Ok so this isn’t technically a sports bet, but politics is an option in the A-Z sports list on all bookmakers, so it still counts.
The obnoxious loud mouth disaster that is Donald Trump was coming to the end of his term, and Joe Biden was standing against him to end the circus and reclaim the White House.
According to the odds, Biden had around a 65% chance of winning the election when this massive £1 million bet landed on Betfair’s betting exchange in October of 2020.
This was around a week before the election would take place, and although it was the single biggest bet made in the outcome, over £274 million had been wagered on it all together.
The anonymous bettor stood to win in the region of £540,000 if the bookies were correct, giving them odds of around 15/8, or 1.54 if you prefer decimal odds.
A bold wager indeed, especially when you consider how Trump came from behind to win the election 4 years earlier.
The person who placed the bet has never come forward, but it is assumed they were English, since it was actually illegal for Americans to bet on the election, and the bet was placed in sterling.
Biden Beats Trump
Voter turnout was up 7% on the previous election, as 66% of adults turned up to vote in one of the most anticipated elections of the last 50 years.
Interestingly, those who voted in the 2018 mid-term elections but did not vote in the 2016 election, resoundingly supported Biden, a sign that America was not happy with how things were going.
Trump had made gains among Hispanic voters although Biden remained the favourite in this demographic, and he also increased the vote share of suburban voters from 45% during Clinton’s campaign, to 51% for him.
Crucially, Biden almost made gains among the working classes which had been where Trump was focussing his efforts four years previous.
In the end though, Joe Biden took the White House with 306 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232, dominating on the East and West coats while Trump kept hold of most of the less densely populated middle America.
It was closer if you look at the popular vote, with Biden getting 51.3% (81,284,666 votes) and Trump 46.8% (74,224,319 votes), but nevertheless, our 1 million pound bettor won their money, and sanity won in America.
Of course Trump had a tantrum and claimed he was cheated, but he’s a big baby isn’t he, so it’s what everyone expected.