Bookmakers increase odds on Trump being impeached

The number of people betting on Mr. Trump losing office in his first term increased sharply after FBI Director Comey was fired.

Trump met Comey at the White House in February 2017. Photo: Reuters

After US President Donald Trump suddenly fired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, the number of people betting on the possibility of Mr. Trump being impeached in his first term at international bookmakers quickly skyrocketed, AP reported on May 11.

"In the last 24 hours alone, we have seen an increase in betting on Trump being impeached in his first term, forcing us to adjust the odds from 11 to 10 to 6 to 4," said Lewis Davey, a spokesman for Irish online betting company Paddly Power.

Davey said the odds showed that the likelihood of Mr Trump being impeached and removed from office in his first term had risen from 33% to 60%, a figure that rose sharply after Mr Comey's firing became widely known.

"We believe this is due to the information that Comey was fired," Davey said.

US bookmaker Betfair said "betting odds increased sharply within 24 hours of the White House announcing Mr. Comey's dismissal." According to this bookmaker, just hours after Comey was dismissed, the odds on the possibility of the US president leaving this year increased from 10% to 25%.

"Since Donald Trump took office, many people have bet on him being removed from the White House before the end of his first term, but after Trump's recent moves, the number of bets on that possibility becoming a reality by the end of this year has increased sharply," Betfair said.

The US political betting site PredictIt on May 10 predicted that the chance of Mr. Trump remaining in office until the end of 2017 was 82%, down from 87% just two days earlier.

President Trump on May 9 decided to fire Comey, who was leading the investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to the Russian government.

The incident reminded many people of President Richard Nixon's 1973 decision to fire the special prosecutor in charge of the Watergate investigation. In the face of strong public reaction, Nixon had to resign a year later.

According to VNE