There were some red faces at Australia’s Sportsbet recently. Based on pre-polling trends and exit polls, the provider made the head-scratching decision to pay out early on federal election results, only to see the Coalition ticket prevail over the punters’ favorite, Labor.
On May 17—two days before votes were counted—the betting agency released a statement saying it had already paid out more than $1.3 million on Labor Party hopeful Bill Shorten to claim the victory.
“Sportsbet punters have declared Saturday’s Federal Election run and won, backing Labor into Winx-like odds of $1.16 with 70 percent of all money wagered on the election going on Bill Shorten’s team,” the release said.
“With punters so confident, Sportsbet has today paid out early on all bets placed on Labor to win Saturday’s vote. Over $1.3 million has been paid out to punters who had a flutter on Labor. Labor have attracted several large wagers including one savvy punter who walks away with over $128,000 before a vote has been counted.”
According to Sportsbet’s Rich Hummerston, “Punters rarely get it wrong on elections.”
According to CDC Gaming Reports, later reports indicated that Sportsbet may have paid out as much as $5 million. As the website noted, “Someone’s getting fired for that one.”
