Betting £10 on Donald Trump, Brexit and Leicester winning the Premier League would have returned £30 million

Supposed unlikelihood of recent events highlights unpredictability of 2016 and raises question: what's next? 

Benjamin Kentish
Thursday 10 November 2016 14:57 GMT
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Donald Trump's victory was considered just one of the unthinkable events to have taken place in 2016
Donald Trump's victory was considered just one of the unthinkable events to have taken place in 2016 (Reuters)

Many have pointed out the consecutive series of unexpected events that have dominated this year – and now bookmakers have highlighted just how unpredictable 2016 has been.

Bookies have confirmed that a Donald Trump victory, Britain leaving the EU and Leicester City winning the Premier League were all deemed so unlikely that a £10 bet on all three would together would have returned a massive £30 million.

The odds suggest bookmakers believed there was 0.000033 chance of all three events taking place - a combination that was considered so unimaginable that, it is thought, no one in the UK placed a bet on them all.

Paddy Power was counting its losses today after taking the decision to pay out early to customers who had backed Hillary Clinton. The company is believed to have lost around £800,000 after wrongly calling the election in her favour weeks before polling day.

With 2016 looking set to be the most unpredictable year in living memory, many people will be wondering what else might be worth a punt.

They might be tempted by odds of just 66/1 on Mr Trump's first overseas visit as President being to North Korea, while Slovenia is deemed even more likely at 10/1.

Bookies believe Mr Trump is most likely to head to Russia first – a reasonable assumption given his repeated praise during the campaign of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The Republican winner faces a potentially tricky start to his presidency, with several of the women who claim he sexually assaulted them set to take their cases to court. Bookmakers appear to think they may have some success: the President-elect is 6/4 to appear in court during his presidency and just 10/1 to be successfully impeached.

It comes as Mr Trump begins preparations for taking over the presidency in January. He is scheduled to meet President Obama at the White House today to discuss arrangements for the transition.

The two-month process has been planned since the start of this year and the Obama Administration has expressed its desire to ensure a smooth hand-over of power.

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