Mystery British businessman bets $5m on Trump in ‘largest political wager ever’

A British gambler is hoping to prove US election pundits wrong after placing a $5m (£3.9m) bet at odds of 37/20 on Donald Trump winning the presidential race.

As US voters go the polls today, The Sun reports that the unnamed “fluttering financier” placed his big-bucks wager with a private bookmaker on the Caribbean island of Curacao after speaking to “Trump camp insiders”. A betting industry source told the newspaper that “word of this bet has done the rounds and we think it’s the biggest ever made on politics”.

Speculation is growing about the identity of the mystery businessman, who is reported to be a “rich former banker who is based offshore”. Whoever he is, the high-stakes gambler “could walk away with almost $15m” (£11.6m) if his “hunch is successful”, says the Daily Mail.

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Another mystery punter is hoping that won’t be the case, after betting £1m on Joe Biden to win the election, according to British bookmaker Betfair Exchange. If the Democratic challenger secures the keys to the White House, the UK-based gambler will take home £1.4m.

Biden remains favourite to win the election, but bookmakers say there has been a late flurry of bets on Trump.

Ladbrokes reports that over the past week, three in four of all bets were for the Republican to secure a second term. A spokesperson for the betting giant said that although “Biden looks home and hosed, even at the eleventh hour punters are continuing to back Trump at the odds on offer”.

That pattern is being repeated over at Paddy Power, with 93% of the money bet on the election over the last day backing a Trump victory.