US election: Man bets $5 million on Donald Trump in ‘biggest ever political bet’

In what is believed to be the biggest political bet ever, a British gambler has reportedly staked $5 million on President Donald Trump winning the 2020 US presidential election.

The unnamed man who is a former banker used private bookies registered on the Caribbean island of Curacao for his risky gamble on Tuesday’s election, the Sun UK reported.

A friend of the financier said he had consulted with “Trump camp insiders” before making the high-risk bet that could net him a cheque of almost $15million on 2.85 return.

A betting industry source told The Sun: “Word of this bet has done the rounds and we think it’s the biggest ever made on politics.”

It also emerged that an unnamed person in the UK placed has put $1million on Joe Biden beating incumbent Donald Trump. If Biden wins the contentious race against Trump, the bet-placer will get $1,986,903, British bookmaker Betfair Exchange said.

And Paddy Power said the volume of wagers placed on the two candidates over the last 24-hours has seen 93 per cent of the money backing Donald Trump to get a second term, with just 7 per cent going for Joe Biden.

Most of the big-money betting occurs outside the US as political betting is illegal in the country, however, it is popular in the UK and many other countries. And the 2020 US election is shaping up to be the biggest betting event of all time.

“This is a huge market,” Matthew Shaddick, head of political betting at British sports betting and gambling firm GVC told AFP news agency. “It is twice as big as 2016, easily making it the biggest political event ever.”

According to Betfair Exchange, $337 million worth of bets has been placed on the 2020 election. While Matthew Shaddick, the head of political betting at Ladbrokes Coral Group, said it estimated about £1bn would be wagered globally across the industry.