Irish bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair reported positive overall earnings for the last calendar quarter of 2016, with one notable exception—the operator’s online division dipped by 3 percent, thanks to the unexpected election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States.
Paddy Power Betfair lost nearly £5 million to bettors on the U.S. presidential election, which was exacerbated by the operator’s decision to pay £800,000 in advance to gamblers who backed Hillary Clinton for U.S. president. That decision was made before the U.S. polls closed, on the assumption Clinton was going to emerge victorious.
However, losses due to the U.S. election were only a blip in the operator’s overall quarterly results, which reflect a 12 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to £299 million in betting and £89 million in gaming revenue. Full-year revenue was £1.551 billion, an 18 percent increase over 2015. The operator reports that full-year EBITDA will meet its original forecasts of between £390 million and £405 million.
To help make up for the election losses, Paddy Power Betfair offered its customers a menu of proposition bets on Trump’s inauguration speech—such as 11-to-1 on the speech lasting 22 minutes, 30 seconds or longer (it lasted less than 20 minutes), 5-to-4 on Trump mentioning his catchphrase “Make America Great Again” (he did), and even money on him berating “Crooked Hillary” (he did not).
