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Sure the fine folks at Paddy Power paid out on all Hillary Clinton bets to become the next US President a few weeks ago and lost over a $1 million in doing so, but they likely gained that twofold in free marketing.
Bloomberg called it a backfire, we here at Gambling911.com would prefer to call it more Paddy Power marketing genius.
The Irish bookmaker and 3rd largest in the United Kingdom has long drawn free publicity through such stunts as sponsoring a confessional outside a Catholic church, erecting a giant Hollywood-like sign advertisement over the Cheltenham Gold Cup race and, who could forget the launch of a giant underwear hot air balloon emblazoned with the Paddy Power name. They once came under fire for offering odds on the assassination of US President Barack Obama when he first came into office in 2008.
“We’re in the business of making predictions and decided to put our neck on the line by paying out early on Hillary Clinton, but boy did we get it wrong,” spokesman Feilim Mac An Iomaire told Bloomberg News. “We’ve been well and truly thumped by Trump.”
Paddy Power confirmed to Gambling911.com’s own Thomas Somach that they won’t be demanding their customers pay them back on these Clinton payouts.
"We’re in the business of predictions and from time to time we like to put our money where our mouth is, like our customers do on a daily basis, and make a bold move," Paddy Power spokesman Feilim MacAnlomaire said. "We felt at the time that it (a Clinton victory) was a done deal and decided to give our customers an early payday.
"We paid out early on Obama winning the 2012 election four days before the country went to the polls," he continued. "We have also had it blow up in our faces from time to time. We were stung by Y.E Yang after paying out early on Tiger Woods winning the 2009 PGA Championship and also by Manchester United, whose late season collapse in 2013 saw their rivals Manchester City pip them to the English Premier League title after we had paid out on the Red Devils.
"If Clinton loses we’ll end up with some very expensive egg on our face and pay out on Trump. There’s no question of us looking for our customers’ money back after we’ve paid it out and it’s no longer ours, as far as we’re concerned."
Warwick Bartlett, chief executive officer of Isle of Man-based Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, agrees with our own sentiments regarding Paddy Power’s marketing prowess.
“If it’s cost them a million, it’s been cheap because they would have got that back many times over in publicity. This will fly around the world that they paid out early.”
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
