2008 US Elections Betting Flop

Sports betting site Betfair has been around for quite some time. Over nearly a decade of activity, the entertainment website saw two US presidential elections. It has probably never seen such a loss over its faulty predictions as it has this week.

For some reason – which we will try to explain in the following – the European online gambling website has posted extremely unfavorable odds on Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to win the New Hampshire caucuses. The odds were posted after her main rival, Barack Obama, won the Iowa caucuses. This mistake cost BetUS $75,000.

It should be noted that American websites have not mistaken so badly as their European counterparts, Ireland’s Paddy Power included. BetUS and the American sites have had Americans placing bets too, helping it establish a more accurate prediction. This input the European sites have lacked.

For who in their right mind could have listed Clinton’s odds of winning in New Hampshire at a measly 50/1?

This spells out to an unbelievable payout of $5,000 for every $100 bet.

Some around the European gambling market have gone out of their way to already crown the winner. Paddy Power declared that the Democratic Nomination race "is well and truly over and are already paying out on Barack Obama to be the successful Democratic nominee” before the race on Monday.

Obama meanwhile received odds similar to those American bettors saw in the US, namely in the range of 4/1 to 9/4.

There are also odds on who – Clinton or Obama – would become president in a year, but these we will leave out at this stage, understandably...