Irish Bookmaker Pays out on Obama as Next US Pr...

DUBLIN, Ireland, October 16 /PRNewswire/ --     Following the concluding 
presidential debate in New York last
night Ireland's largest bookmaker, Paddy Power, has decided to pay out on
Barack Obama as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America.



    This unprecedented move comes almost three weeks ahead of
Election Day on November 4th and sees the bookie paying out in excess of
EUR1,000,000 [$1,360,000] to Obama backers. Prior to Paddy Power paying out,
Obama was practically unbackable at odds of 1-9 to be the next American
President (meaning a bet of EUR90 was required to make EUR10 profit)



    To date Paddy Power has taken over ten thousand bets on the
2008 US Presidential Election, the majority of which were placed in support
on the Illinois Senator over the past 12 months. In fact betting support was
so strong for Obama that Paddy Power paid out over EUR50,000 ($68,000) 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 off sorts in last nights final debate we believe
he has done more than enough to get him across the line on November 4th. The
overall betting trends has shown one way traffic for Obama since the start of
the summer and punters seemed to have called it 100% correct. It reminds me
of the patriotic words of action star Wesley Snipes in the movie Passenger
57......Always Bet on Black!"



    Incredibly, Obama was a massive 50/1 with Paddy Power to be
next President back in May of 2005. One inspired punter had a long range
wager of EUR50 at these odds which today returns a cool EUR2,550. The largest
single bet placed on Obama to be next President was EUR100,000 ($136,000) in
June of this year at odds of 1-2 which returns a whopping EUR150,000
($204,000) today.



    Despite today's seven-figure payout, Paddy Power continues to
offer betting right up to and including Election Day. One of its most popular
bets currently on offer is predicting the winning margin of the successful
nominee on November 4th.



    To see Paddy Power's full range of betting on the American Presidential
election go to :



http://www.paddypower.com/bet?action=go_type&category=SPECIALS&ev_class_id=33&ev
_type_id=5142&promo=nov_USPresidentialElection&crea=img&novelty=1

    
    For more information contact;
    Ken Robertson
    Media and PR Manager
    Paddy Power plc
    Ireland
    T: [phone]