UK Bookies Profit Off of US Elections

UNITED KINGDOM – As reported by the UK This is Money: "British bookmakers and betting exchanges are set to take almost £20m (US$36.7 million) worth of trades on the contest between George W Bush and John Kerry by the time the US Presidential election results come in on Tuesday night.

"Many high-flyers in the financial markets - including, it is rumoured, hedge fund billionaire George Soros - have been placing bets on Bush-Kerry through firms over here, because such betting is not permitted in the US.

"The biggest slice of business is going to Dublin-based betting exchange Tradesports which had taken $15m (£8.2m) of trades on the election by yesterday and is hoping to reach $20m by next week.

"…London-based betting exchange Betfair had matched £3.1m worth of bets on the overall result by yesterday. It was quoting the Republicans to win at the equivalent in fixed-odds terms of 3-4 on, with the Democrats at the equivalent of 5-4 against.

"Spread betting firms have also been taking a stream of bets on Bush and Kerry.

"…Cantor's David Buik said: 'We've taken five times as much business on this US election as we took on Bush-Gore four years ago.'…"