2016 HAS BEEN the year of the upset.
Pollsters, financial markets, and bookies have called almost every major event this year the wrong way.
The three biggest surprises have been Leicester City winning the 2015/16 Premier League season in May, Britain voting to leave the European Union in June, and Donald Trump beating Hilary Clinton to become the 45th President of the United States.
British bookmaker Ladbrokes told Business Insider that if someone had made a £1 accumulator bet on all three events to happen when they were at their longest odds, they would be sitting on £4,530,906 (€5,342,924) today. In other words, you could have turned €1.20 into €5.3 million.
Ladbrokes says the longest odds it offered on each event were: 5,000/1 on Leicester winning the Premier League, 5/1 on Brexit, and 150/1 on Trump winning the election.
The bookie says nobody had an accumulator on all three events happening but around 100 people had accumulators on both Brexit and a Trump victory. The average odds on these accumulators were 20/1 and the biggest bet was £100 (€120) at that rate – whoever made that bet is sitting on a £2,000 (€2,400) profit today.
Pascal Lemesre, spokesperson for betting exchange Smarkets, told Business Insider its most successful punter made £165,000 (€195,000) trading the US election result overnight.
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