Paddy Power takes £4m Trump hit after paying out early on Clinton

Having already rather presumptuously paid out on Hillary Clinton, bookmaker Paddy Power has stumped up its biggest political payout ever to punters who correctly bet on Donald Trump to win the US presidential race.

The bookie, part of the Paddy Power Betfair group, said it has paid out more than £4m to those who bet on Trump.

Looking to make up for its losses, it has now started taking bets on a number of 'Trump specials', offering 20/1 odds that the orange-tinged president elect will successfully build a border wall with Mexico and 100/1 that he will turn the White House gold.

Spokesperson Lewis Davey said, “We’re in the business of making predictions and decided to put our neck on the line by paying out early on Hillary Clinton, but boy did we get it wrong.

"We’ve been well and truly thumped by Trump with his victory leaving us with the biggest political payout in the company’s history and some very, very expensive egg on our faces.”

Shares in Paddy Power Betfair were down 1.3% to 9,060p by 0930 GMT on Wednesday.