The world’s largest online betting site has set a new political betting record after a player placed more than £1 million ($1.29 million) on Democratic candidate Joe Biden winning the 2020 US presidential election.
According to CNN, the bookmaker is still keeping the identity of the “huge” bettor on the Betfair Exchange site on October 29 confidential. If the prediction is correct, this person will receive 540,000 pounds ($696,170) in addition to the original 1 million pounds bet.
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| The odds of Mr. Biden (left) winning are higher than Mr. Trump. Photo: CNBC |
Bookmakers are now giving Mr Biden a 65% chance of winning and Mr Trump a 35% chance, much better than pollster FiveThirtyEight, which has pegged the White House leader’s chances at just 10%.
The bet on Mr Biden is the third-largest in Betfair’s history, behind a £1.1m bet on tennis star Rafael Nadal at the 2010 French Open and a £1m bet on boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Conor McGregor in 2017.
The bet could bode well for the former US Vice President as the owners of the previous 10 biggest bets in Betfair history all came out winners.
Betfair allows players to continue betting until the US presidential election results are known, so bookmakers will continue to accept bets even during the counting of votes. The online betting site estimates that the total amount of bets on this year’s White House race could reach more than £400 million ($516 million), which is double the amount of the 2016 election.
