Nobel Peace Prize Betting - Liu Xiaobo Declared as Winner By Bookmaker

Leading Irish betting firm Paddy Power have today taken the unprecedented step of paying out on imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo as the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize a full 48 hours ahead of the scheduled announcement.

The bookmaker was forced to cut the odds on Liu Xiaobo winning earlier this week from 3-1 to - odds-on - 4-5 after a late surge of betting including several bets of €200 placed by punters across the globe.

Ken Robertson, spokesperson of Paddy Power, explains: "Obviously we’re taking a risk but it’s a calculated one. Over the past decade we have never experienced such strong betting support for any individual candidate and this leads us to believe that this year’s Nobel cat is well and truly out of the bag."

The bookmaker is paying out over €5,000 today to all those who placed bets on Liu Xiaobo before midnight last night.

Latest Betting Odds - Nobel Peace Prize 2010

4/5 Liu Xiaobo, 10/1 Mary Robinson, 10/1 Hu Jia, 10/1 Democratic Voice of Burma, 11/1 European Union, 12/1 Morgan Tsvangirai, 12/1 Memorial/Svetlana Gannushkina, 12/1 Seema Samar