Respected sports betting firm Betfair has said it is settling all markets for the 46 US Presidential election race, prompting criticism from disgruntled punters who ended up losing money.
Betfair Criticized by Punters Who Lost Money on Trump
British sports betting firm and exchange Betfair has settled the 2020 Presidential election betting markets to a flurry of social media backlash from people who have bet on the incumbent to win a second term in office in what was the biggest political betting race of all times.
In the latest update issued on December 15, the company said that since the Electoral College has wrapped up its voting and has confirmed Joe Biden as the President-election, the markets could now be settled, as the winner was clear.
Bettors, who mostly tend to have a lot of money riding on President Trump, are miffed with Betfair’s decision it seems, but even if this is the case, Betfair has been one of the last sportsbooks to close the markets, with some doing so very early into the race, and settling bets all around.
Sharing the update on Twitter, Betfair had 345 replies at the time of writing under the publication, with many disgruntled punters taking out to the social media voice their disagreement with what they saw as an “early closure” of the available markets.
GamblingNews reminds that originally, millions worth of bets across numerous sportsbooks were stalled due to the highly-contested outcome of the 2020 election.
Big Lawsuit Coming, Say Twitter Users
Betfair has been one of the last companies to settle Presidential election markets, with many competitors calling the results very early into the race.
In fact, Australian sportsbook Sportsbet decided to pay out winning bets to Joe Biden backers as early as November 5, predicting a successful outcome for the contender. Yet, punters on social media kept calling out Betfair.
The main reasoning behind the criticism is that the Electoral College voting doesn’t settle the process and that it was up to US Congress to decide on who the new President would be.
However, other users rallied behind Betfair’s expertise and dismissed the criticism. Betfair has no interest to settle any markets early. In 1998 a rival company, Betfred, decided to pay out early on Manchester United winning the title, leading 12 points ahead of Arsenal who eventually caught up and snatched the title.
While criticism kept flying on social media, there were enough users who pitched in to dismiss the complaints by players who have tried to make easy money by spending unwisely on a dubious outcome.
The backlash seems to stem from the fact punters have blindly opted into what they considered a big payday without doing their due diligence. In their defense, it was a highly-contested run, but even Trump’s own high-profile backers have urged the President to admit defeat.
There have been many examples of people wagering big money on Trump, including an unnamed man who placed a $5 million bet on POTUS winning a second term, and a woman from the Netherlands who burnt through $170,000 for a shot to win $3.29 million.
She did not and so Betfair has settled a fair market. Perhaps Trump will run in 2024 and win a new term then. Meanwhile, Betfair accepted over $2 billion in total betting handle on the 2020 Presidential election.