Following the concluding presidential debate in New York last night Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has decided to pay out on Barack Obama as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America.   

The move comes almost three weeks ahead of Election Day on November 4th and sees the bookie paying out in excess of £800,000 to Obama backers.  Prior to Paddy Power paying out, Obama looked almost unbackable at odds of just 1/9 to be the next American President (meaning a bet of £90 was required to make £10 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 £40,000 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 trend has shown one way traffic for Obama since the start of the summer.”

Obama started the year 11/2 to make it to the White House and 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 €50 at these odds which today returns a cool €2,550.

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.  

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