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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Why bother with the US election? Bookie declares Obama the winner!

The American taxpayers can save money and don't even have to bother holding their presidential election after Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has declared Barack Obama the winner.

After the final presidential debate in New York, bookmaker Paddy Power has decided to pay out on Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America.

An initial CNN poll showed 58% thought Mr Obama won the third and final debate of the election, which saw the two candidates sit side-by-side at Hofstra University in Hempstead. Most US political pundits also thought he won the first two.

The move from Paddy Power comes almost three weeks ahead of Election Day on November 4 and sees the bookie paying out in excess of £800,000 to Obama backers after he was backed all the way into 1/9 (1.11).

To date Paddy Power has taken over 10,000 bets on the 2008 US Presidential Election, the majority of which were placed in support on the Illinois Senator over the past 12 months.

Betting support was so strong for Obama that they paid out over £40,000 on his successful nomination as the Democratic Party candidate back in January of this year, seven months before the convention.

Paddy Power said: "We declare this race well and truly over and congratulate all those who backed Obama, your winnings await you.

"Although the Senator seemed a little out of sorts in last night's final debate we believe he has done more than enough to get him across the line on November 4. The overall betting trend has shown one way traffic for Obama since the start of the summer."


If you'd had the foresight to bet on Barrack Obama earlier then you could have cleaned up. Obama started the year 11/2 to make it to the White House and was a massive 50/1 with Paddy Power to be next President back in May of 2005.

It just proves that there is big money in politics.

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