Betting Wizard Loses Big in the UK General Election Bet

The unnamed man who won £193,000 by correctly guessing the outcome of Scottish referendum back in September has lost his winnings and more after he incorrectly predicted the outcome of the UK General Election.

After his first successful bet, he explained that his decision to bet £900,000 on the outcome of Scottish independence referendum was not reckless gambling. In fact, the unnamed man described his betting as responsible gambling and investment.

He had done a lot of research on possible outcome of Scottish referendum and decided to place a bet at his local bookmaker William Hill. He explained that big amount of data was available, especially public polls, so he was able to make some solid predictions about the eventual outcome.

However, his bet on the outcome of the General Elections has cost the man who calls himself a data geek and information nerd, all of his previous winnings and more.

This year he has placed a bet of £200,000 at 2/9 on a hung parliament and then added some more on top of it. Spokesman of William Hill claimed that this was the biggest ever loss on a political bet and that he got in touch with the bettor. He stated that the man was fine and will live to fight another day, but will probably take low profile for a while.

Spokesman for William Hill also added that the man who lost a bet was primarily upset because his analysis of General Election outcome didn’t work out.

However many people got lucky when it comes to political bets. A Betfair customer won £46,000 for putting £2,600 on Conservative majority two days ago. Another Betfair customer put £3, 200, on Conservative Majority in April and won £33,600 while a PaddyPower punter won £25,000 by betting David Cameron would continue as Prime Minister.

A spokesman for another big bookmaker, Betfred, said that the company reported a record-breaking election in terms of bets placed.

Political betting is quite popular pastime in the UK as many have fun predicting election results and backing their predictions with some money. Even though politics is predictable compared to other gambling markets, people should always expect unexpected.

It is always better to rely on researches than on instinct because luck plays much smaller role in political betting than in sports betting for example. Political betting is described as very compelling and it is considered as a great opportunity for bookies to attract new customers.

However, political betting is also gambling and there is always a possibility that you can lose money just like the unnamed stats wizard from this article. In any form of betting / gambling, luck will always play a certain role and odds are usually calculated in such a manner to still give a bookmaker an advantage, so if you are going for it, make sure to at least get your facts straight first.

Image: thinksales.co.za