400 Million Dollars Betted On US Election in Britain, Largest Bet Is 5 Million Dollars On Trump Victory

LONDON (VINnews) — While America remains confused as to the identity of its next president, for a large number of British citizens the result could mean a lot of money, according to an article in the British newspaper The Sun. Political gambling is prohibited in the US but in Britain it is legal and an estimated 400 million dollars worth of bets were placed on the winner of the US election.

Interestingly, most of the bets favored a Donald Trump victory, with Ladbrokes reporting 3 out of 4 bets for Trump during the final week of the campaign. Another betting house, Paddy Power said that 93 per cent of wagers in the last 24 hours prior to the election backed Donald Trump to get a second term, with just 7 per cent going for Joe Biden.

An anonymous British businessman bet an unprecedented 5 million dollars on a Donald Trump victory, which is believed to be the largest political gamble ever made. The rich former-banker who is based offshore used a private bookkeeping company registered on the tiny Caribbean island Curacao for his risky gamble on today’s US presidential election. If he wins, the businessman could get a cheque of almost 15 million dollars on a 2.85 return on his bet.

Yet Trump was not the only one who had large bets placed on his victory. An unnamed person in the UK placed £1 million (1.29 million dollars) on a Biden victory, which will net him nearly 2 million dollars in the event of Biden’s winning. British bookmaker Betfair Exchange said that 337 million dollars of bets had already been placed on the election results and by the election it was expected to reach 400 million dollars.

A Betfair spokesperson told the Newsweek magazine that although more money has been bet on Donald Trump, the ten biggest stakes are all on Joe Biden, although this was before the 5 million dollar bet on Trump, which was allegedly made after consultation with “Trump camp insiders.”