Donald Trump announced his US presidential run in a speech that attacked Mexican immigrants and promised to build an “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall” along the US-Mexico border.
In response, British bookies put his odds of winning at 150/1 when he first declared his candidacy. Trump’s promise of a “Brexit plus, plus, plus” election upset was largely ignored, until the eve of election night. When betting closed Nov. 8, British betting chain Ladbrokes put Trump’s chance of winning the White House at 1/50 and Hillary Clinton at 10/1.
Trump’s startling win sparked a so-called “betting Armageddon.” In mid-October, Irish bookie Paddy Power was so confident of a Clinton win that it paid out over $1 million to gamblers who had bet on Clinton, hoping those gamblers would spent the money on other wagers. Following the results on election night, Paddy Power handed out another $4.5 million to Trump betters in its biggest political betting loss ever.
“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,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
What does the future hold? Here are some upcoming events that bookies are giving the same odds of Trump’s win.
- Alan Sugar, the UK’s host of The Apprentice, to become the next British Prime Minister
- Daniel Radcliffe to become the next James Bond
- Jean-Francois Cope, the former budget minister who didn’t know the price of a chocolate-filled pastry, to become France’s next president
- The Tennessee Titans to win the next Superbowl
- Kevin Spacey to win the US presidential elections in 2020 (Kanye West odds are slightly higher at 90/1)
- Samoa to win the next Rugby World Cup