Paddy Power Introduces Political Betting

Jan 14, 2013
Paddy Power Introduces Political Betting
Since the sessions in the House of Commons, especially the regular Prime Minister's Questions sessions often become a battlefield of boost and hoots, online and land gambling group Paddy Power decided to turn politics into a betting market, so it has introduced bets on how many times the Speaker John Bercow will have to intervene at PMQs and call "Order!". There are only two prices – whether the number will be above a certain level or below; initially it's 5/6 either side of 2.5 interventions. Commenting on this new offering, dubbed “Bercow Betting”, a Paddy Power spokesman said: "One of the great problems with political betting is that there is no regular event which you can have a punt on. Almost all the markets are on things that can be months or years ahead. "In the past a number of bookies have tred to create weekly markets but none has caught on or has involved a lot of work on the part of the bookie. A couple of years ago Ladbrokes introduced a sort of PMQs buzz words where you bet on what the Opposition Leader's first question would about, but the amount of effort required by the firm in setting it up was disproportionate and it only lasted a few weeks."
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