Nigel Farage has said he is ‘absolutely optimistic,’ Donald Trump will win the US election as he posed with a £10,000 bet after the first polls closed.
The Brexit Party leader has been backing Trump’s re-election campaign, even appearing at a rally in Arizona last week, where the US President called him the ‘king of Europe.
As polls closed across America yesterday, Farage shared a picture from Washington of him posing with a £10,000 betting slip offering odds of 15/8 for Donald Trump to be re-elected.
Nigel Farage’s bet of £10,000 on Donald Trump to win the US election would see a total return of £28,750
Nigel Farage joined Donald Trump on stage at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, last week, where the US President called him the ‘king of Europe’
He shared an image alongside the message: ‘The first polls are closing and I am absolutely optimistic.’
Should he win, the former City worker would see a return of £28,750.
Betting on the election is legal in the US, with Ladbrokes predicting £1bn will be placed globally on the result.
The Guardian claims one man has bet £1million on Joe Biden to win, offering a return of £1.5m.
Gamblers have swung back to support Biden after previously slashing Donald Trump’s odds on a second term.
Biden, whose odds dropped to just a 25.8 per cent chance of winning at one point this morning, has once again become odds-on favourite to win.
Biden was favourite at 8/13 close to midday Wednesday, according to aggregate site Oddschecker, versus Trump at 7/4.
Farage has backed Trump since the 2016 election. Speaking last week he told voters the Republican candidate ‘beat the establishment’
Biden was way ahead before the polls closed at 1/2, but that lead quickly fell away as results rolled in showing Trump had out-performed the polls, just as he did in 2016.
At one point, Joe Biden had been given a 70 per cent chance of victory. That flipped overnight to give Trump a 69 per cent chance of victory.
Trump then fell back to 58 per cent, putting him narrowly ahead but with results still too close to call.
This morning Mr Farage told the BBC: ‘It looks like Trump has won, but it’s not certain,’ minutes after the Republican candidate spoke in the White House where he demanded all counting stop as he boasted about the margins he had rung up already.
Mr Farage backed Trump at the 2016 election, and returned to the US last week for a rally in Arizon, where he dubbed the ‘king of Europe’.
Farage noted he had come to the United States four years ago ‘to bring the Brexit message that you can beat the establishment, and that is what Donald Trump did’.
In a ringing endorsement, Farage continued: ‘You are voting for the only current leader in the free world who has got the guts to stand up and fight for the nation state, to fight for patriotism, to fight against globalism.’
Speaking from the Trump Hotel in Washington DC today, Mr Farage’s interview with Good Morning Britain descended into a row with Piers Morgan, who accused the President of suggesting people inject themselves with bleach to treat coronavirus.
Mr Farage accused the GMB host of ‘playing silly games,’ as repeatedly denied Trump ever made the comment.
The row started after Morgan commented on the ‘nonsensical theories about bleach and so on’.
The former UKIP leader, from Westerham in Kent, could then be heard shouting ‘nope, nope, nope,’ before declaring: ‘End this nonsense, he never mentioned bleach.’
He added: ‘Piers you’re talking, I won’t use the word, you’re talking utter rubbish.
‘Grow up, stop being fake news. Grow up and stop being fake news, he never said bleach.’